


Febuwhump 2019: Penny Parker Edition

by Emily_F6



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Febuwhump, Female Peter Parker, Penny Parker - Freeform, Peter is Penny, because Peter is a girl, genderbent au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-10-20 14:15:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 46,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17623940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emily_F6/pseuds/Emily_F6
Summary: Follows the prompts of Febuwhump 2019





	1. Day 1: Trapped

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, everybody! Welcome to Febuwhump. Am I going to be posting every day? Probably not. Are they all going to be great? Also probably not. But I swear I'm doing my best! I hope you like day 1!

**Day 1: Trapped**

The girl stared at the flat white wall barely six feet away from her face. She always stared at the wall. Sometimes remembering the before. An apartment with off-white walls and photos on the wall. Photos of a man and a woman, and her. The girl and her aunt and her uncle. Other times she remembered the other cell….smaller and colder concrete walls. Food delivered once a day through a slot in the wall. That had been worse. So much worse. Experiments. Blood. Screaming...then people with guns. Different people. A man with an eyepatch, her teeth around a hand that had been held out to her.

She stared at the wall and tried to remember before instead. Before had been good. Warm. Family. Love. But it was getting harder and harder to remember. She didn't know if that was because of the needles or the blood or...whatever else she'd managed to forget. Well, she was trying to forget. It was a work in progress.

The man with the eyepatch had been surrounded by others...all with guns. He'd stared at her for a long time, his one eye meeting hers. But she hadn't spoken. She knew better. They'd done the same thing to her so many times...tried to trick her into speaking. She knew better now. She'd learned. She was trapped. It was something she had accepted. No. Not accepted. Just...existed. It was her existence. They'd taken her when she was twelve. She knew that much. Remembered that birthday. Balloons and an Iron Man cake and a boy her age, grinning and round face handing her a box full of Legos.

Then...no. she didn't remember. Wouldn't remember. Not that. The man with the eyepatch had opened her door and she'd attacked. Of course, she'd known better. But terrible fear had coiled in her stomach and she'd attacked as soon as he'd gotten close, a hand held out. Hadn't let him talk. Hadn't let him touch her. She didn't want anything or anyone to touch her. Then there had been a dark in her neck and the next thing she'd known, she'd been in this room.

It wasn't a cell. Not really. There were no bars, but the walls were all concrete and the door was locked. No windows. She sat on the bed, shivering and staring at the people who wheeled in carts of food that she sometimes ate, sometimes didn't. Sometimes her eyes would get hot and she'd curl up in the bed, covering her head with the blankets and sobbing into the pillow. She felt empty. Dead. Cold. She wanted to go home. But she had no home. Not one that she remembered anyway. It was all a blur, the before.

She didn't want to remember. Not really.

So she existed in the room with the bed and the sink and a toilet behind a little wall. She changed clothes and took showers and ate food sometimes. She was cold all the time and she did her best not to cry. She looked at herself in the mirror sometimes. Long brown hair always tied back. Brown eyes sunken in a skeletal face. No one here spoke to her. Not that she'd speak to them.

They hadn't wanted her to talk there, and so, like a dog, they had trained her not to. It had been embarrassingly easy. She was ashamed of how easy it had been.

There was yelling in the hall the day it changed. Angry voices that woke her from a midday nap. She had been curled up under the covers...had fallen asleep feeling herself slip away a little more. At first, she'd stayed sane by reciting things in her head. The names of people she loved. Prayers. Words in Spanish. The periodic table of elements. Pi. Anything.

Slowly, she'd given up. The people at the other place had tied her up and stuck her with needles and there had been so much pain that she'd felt herself slip away, little by little, until she was...well, whatever she was now. But the voices woke her and she stared at the wall for a little while. She almost never heard people...almost never in the...well...however long she'd been there. Bringing the covers with her, she sat up, wrapping herself firmly in the blanket and staring at the mirror by the door. Skeletal face. Sunken eyes. Shivering. Always shivering. Always cold.

"What the hell is this, Nick? Who is she?"

"Her name is Penny Parker."

The name made something snap in her brain...like a Lego clicking into place. Penny Parker. That was her. How had she forgotten that? Penny Parker. She didn't say it out loud but she thought it, the words filling her like water. Penny Parker. Had they said it before?

"How old is she?"

"Fourteen." That was the man with the eyepatch. But she didn't know the other voice.

"What the fuck! Why are you keeping a fourteen-year-old locked up like an animal here? Why the hell did you bring me here? Did you think that this would be okay with me?"

"She isn't…"

"Is the door locked?" The other voice snapped, and the eyepatch man went silent. "Open it."

"Stark…"

"Open it or I'll bust it down, Nick, don't fucking test me. Why the hell did you even bring me here?"

"She is a dangerous mutant. I wanted you to take a look at some blood samples..."

"She is a child! A fourteen-year-old girl! And you want to run experiments on her?"

Silent. And then the doorknob was turning, revealing eyepatch guy and another man. One that looked vaguely familiar. She pulled the blankets more firmly around her, shivering and fighting the urge to run. There was nowhere to run. Besides, she knew that man. Somehow. But she was sure they'd never met. He looked sad. And kind of...old. Slowly, he stepped into the room, watching her. His eyes never strayed from her. Shivering, she stared back. "Hi." The man greeted.

"She doesn't talk." The eyepatch man informed him, his one eye trained on her as well. "Attacked us as soon as we tried to save her. She's HYDRA. New version of the Winter Soldier. They were experimenting with genetic mutation. Her DNA was fused with arachnid DNA...she went missing when she was twelve, so we have to assume it was around that time. We're not sure how that affected her brain development. She hasn't spoken since we found her."

"Really? You lock her in a room by herself and she won't speak to you? Weird." The man snapped, angry for some reason. She wondered if he were angry with her but as soon as he turned back to her, the anger dropping from his face.

"We've tried, Stark!"

They had tried once. A woman with a high ponytail and a gun in her hand. She'd stood in the doorway, gun drawn, and had asked her questions that she'd ignored. They'd asked her questions before too...in the other place. Asked her questions about something called Hydra and the cell and the people before. But she hadn't spoken. She knew better. Had just stared at the wall and waited for the woman to leave. Afterward, she'd heard the woman talking in the hallway to the eyepatch man. "I don't know if she can communicate." She'd stopped listening after that. Had almost been relieved.

The man moved closer to her, bringing her back to the present. For a moment, huge brown eyes met hers, and she wondered why she knew him. Stark...did she know that name? Was it even a name? "You cold?" He asked suddenly. She nodded. She was always cold. Had always been cold. But not before...before had been warm. Was he from before? He held out a hand then. "Wanna come with me?"

There was no reason for her to trust him. Just because he seemed vaguely familiar didn't mean that she could trust him. But she didn't trust the one with the eyepatch. She knew that for sure. And she couldn't imagine feeling much worse than she felt in this place. So she took his hand, letting him pull her to her feet. "Stark, that girl is…"

"I swear to fuck, Nick, if you say the words 'Shield' or 'property' right now…"

"You can't just take…"

"The girl comes with me or I tell everyone, and I mean, literally everyone, that, not only is Shield not gone and not only are you not dead, that you're keeping a child locked up in a cell in a basement like an animal." His face was almost blank, jaw tight, and he looked furious.

There was a long silence. Then the man with the eyepatch shook his head. "Stark, she's not just fourteen-year-old girl. We have no idea what HYDRA did to her…"

"Yeah, I'll figure it out. She's coming with me. C'mon kid, let's get you out of here."

Out of here. Out. She'd been trapped for so long. But this man...Stark. She knew that name.

She followed the man out of the room...through a hallway of concrete, and finally, out into the sunlight. It had been so long since she'd been in the sunlight. Beside the building they had been in...a low concrete structure with a sign advertising dry-cleaning on front, was a car. A shiny silver car that beeped when the man hit a button on a remote in his hand. He opened a door on the side, gesturing for her to get in, and she did, not really thinking about it. He'd given her a choice...maybe that was why she'd gone with him. Stark. A name she knew.

He climbed in the other side, starting the car. She remembered cars from before...remembered riding in them. And she must have ridden in one when the man with the eyepatch had moved her from her first cell to the second one. He turned a button and then heat was coming from the vents. Heat. She'd missed heat. Hands pressed against the vents, she shivered and soaked up the heat. He turned the knob again and it got hotter.

She was shaking, but she didn't know if it was because of the cold. She was in a car with a man that she had decided to trust on...what? A whim? After the last man she'd met had taken her away from a cell...from kidnappers who had turned her into...into this...and now...he was taking her somewhere else? Was this shock? She vaguely remembered reading something about people going into shock but couldn't remember any useful details.

"You know, spiders can't thermoregulate." She looked over at him, but he was staring straight out the front glass of the car as he pulled out of a parking lot and onto the road. Could it be that easy? Could this be it? Was she really free? "In the winter, a lot of them hibernate. Others just die. That could be why you're so cold...the temperature at the compound, that's where I live, by the way, should be warm enough for you. If not, just tell me and we'll turn it up. Or...well...mime it, if you want. Can you talk?"

She hesitated. They had never let her speak. Then the man with the eyepatch had spoken to her but..but so had the people at the other place. They'd talked to her and when she'd replied...bad. That had been bad. She didn't think about that. Pushed it all away. Pushed it down. It hurt...so bad. So she stared straight ahead, and for a while, they drove in silence, trees and buildings and people flying past. She watched them...remembering before. She had been a person like them.

They had been driving for a long time before he spoke again. "Penny." She turned to him. It didn't sound like a question. "Your name is Penny Parker. I'm going to try and find your family. I'm sure if a kid went missing, there was a police report or something. I'll find your family, okay? Get you home. You're gonna be okay." His voice was casual. Calm. Like someone who did this a lot. Saved people...Stark. Tony Stark. Tony Stark saved people.

Iron Man.

She didn't say the words. Not out loud. But her mouth formed them before she could stop herself, immediately flinching. Mouthing words counted too. She knew that. "Kid?" She curled up in the seat, eyes heating up, head resting on her knees. Waiting. "Hey, kid? You okay?" She hadn't meant to! "Penny!" The car moved to the side of the road, slowing and then coming to a stop. "Penny? Kid, are you alright?"

The hand that finally touched her was gentle. A careful, light touch on her shoulder, and she stiffened, jaw tight, tense. Waiting. She knew what a hand touching her meant. But this one just stayed there for a minute, silence thick in the car before he spoke. "I'm not going to hurt you, kid. Promise. No one's going to hurt you."

There was no reason for this man to have saved her. None. She didn't understand. Didn't understand any of it, least of all why she couldn't stop crying. Finally, the hand moved, wrapping around her back, and with a sigh, the man pulled her close, her head resting on his chest. "You're okay. You're alright." The voice was so sure. So steady. "We're going to get you back to your family, kid. It's going to be fine."

Slowly, her hand moved up, clutching his back and gripping onto his jacket. Her fingers were sticky. She knew that...knew that she could climb walls and that she hadn't been able to before the needles and the screaming. The man beside her patted her back, letting her tuck her head under her chin. "I was trapped." She whispered the words...barely. It had been so long since she'd said anything. Her voice was raspy and weak. But he tightened his hold on her for just a second before pulling away, looking her right in the eyes.

"Yeah? Well, you're free now, kid."


	2. Day 2: Peer Pressure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who has read and reviewed! I appreciate you all more than I can say :)

****

Day 2: Peer Pressure

**(This takes place in my Tiny Penny Parker AU where Tony is her biological father)**

"Hey, Dad? Is it cool if I stay at Ned's tonight? We've got a big project to work on and his mom already said it was okay." Penny's hands almost shook as she spooned cereal into her mouth, doing her best not to look up at him. He would know. Surely he would know.

"Huh? Yeah, sure kiddo." Her dad muttered, not looking up from his phone. This whole accords thing, plus the fact that the rogue Avengers were still 'at large' or whatever, meant that he was busier than ever. Not that he didn't pay attention to her or anything...she understood that he was busy. He always made time for her. But one of the guys on the Decathlon team was having a huge party that night and Ned insisted that this was their second (third? Fourth? Eighteenth?) time to be cool. Honestly she'd thought that being the daughter of Tony Stark might have won her some cool points at a school dedicated to science and technology, but apparently not.

Anyway, Ned had begged her and begged her and, sure that her dad wouldn't let her go to a party where there would almost certainly be drinking, she'd decided to tell him that she was going to Ned's. No, it wasn't her best idea. But she was pretty confident that she wouldn't be caught, especially considering how busy he was these days. Sighing in relief when he left the room, still on his phone, Penny went back to her cereal, glancing down at her backpack which, for once, didn't have her suit. There would be no patrolling that night. No saving the citizens of Queens. Just stupid teenage fun. And maybe one drink. Her metabolism was crazy fast these days, so she wasn't too worried about getting drunk or anything. It would be fun. Her and Ned and MJ would all hang out and she could feel like a normal teenager again.

The plan was to meet MJ then catch the subway to the party which was happening in a house close to the suburbs. From the subway station, they would take an Uber, then get an Uber back to Ned's where she would spend the night. Instead of her suit, she had a change of clothes in her bag...and a little makeup bag with some stuff Pepper had gotten her for her fifteenth birthday that she'd barely used in the six months since she'd gotten them.

It had been 4 months since she'd gotten caught lying to her dad about the whole 'spidergirl' situation. And already she was going to lie to him again...but this wasn't a big deal. Just normal teenage stuff. She was sure he'd done worse when he'd been her age...not that she was going to bring that up.

As soon as she finished her second bowl of cereal and cleaned up, she grabbed her backpack, hurrying over to the elevator and making sure her phone was charged, she hopped in. "Fri, can you tell my dad that I'm leaving for school?"

"Of course, Penny."

"And can you also remind him that I'm going to Ned's tonight and that I'll see him tomorrow?"

"Yes. Have a good day at school, Penny."

"Thanks, Fri!"

Penny had been on the subway for about ten minutes when her phone vibrated in her pocket and she pulled it out, heart stuttering when she saw that it was her dad calling. Had he figured it out? Had he called Ned's mom? Did he know? Hands shaking, she hit the green button and held it to her ear. "Hey, Dad. What's up?"

"Hey, kiddo. Didn't get to tell you bye."

"Oh...um...that's okay."

"I just...I'm sorry I've been so busy lately." He told her, and she felt the guilt start to bloom in her stomach.

"No...Dad, it's fine. I know that with the Accords and everything…"

"You shouldn't have to worry about that, kiddo." He told her sounding sad. But of course, she worried. Of course, she was hurt. Of course, Steve had betrayed her father and broken her heart, no matter what her dad said about 'two sides' and 'still friends' or whatever. And she just wanted to forget about it. To go to a party and be with her friends.

She hadn't been there...but she'd seen her dad when he'd come home. Sure, she'd been doing her best to hide her powers from him at the time, and doing a pretty good job, But she'd seen the bruises on his face and the sling on his arm...and she'd cried. His face had dropped and he'd wrapped her up in his good arm, stroking the back of her head, but she hadn't been able to stop. "Kiddo...it's okay…." He'd promised. "I'm fine."

She'd shaken her head. "But Steve...he…"

"It's fine, kid. We're going to get through this."

They hadn't yet.

"Pen?"

"Yeah." She jerked back to the present, wiping a hand over her face. "Yeah...I know. I just…"

"Kid, are you okay?" He cut her off, voice gentle.

"I'm fine." She promised.

"I'm sorry I haven't been around much, Pen." She shook her head. She didn't want him to feel guilty. Not over her. Not now...not when she was about to go to a party behind his back. "Hey, how about tomorrow, we go out to dinner and have a movie night. Just you and me?"

"I...I mean...yeah, dad. That sounds great. But you don't have to…"

"Start thinking about where you want to eat, okay? Do you need a ride home tomorrow?"

"No...no that's okay. Um...I can take the subway."

"Alright, Spiderling. I love you."

"Love you too, Dad."

And with that, she dropped her head against the back of the seat, sighing and pocketing her phone once more. Then she pulled it out again, sending Ned a quick text. "Are you sure about tonight?"

She got one back immediately. "Of course! It's going to be fun! Don't chicken out now!"

Then one from MJ right after. "Ned said you were bailing on us? WTF dude?" She groaned, grabbing her backpack and hurrying off the train to her stop, then running up the stairs. It wasn't that she didn't want to go to a party...she wanted to feel normal for once. It had been such a long time since she'd done a normal-teenager thing. And she knew that her dad was stressed out and that things were bad at the moment...but he wasn't going to find out. She would feel a little guilty, she was sure, but she'd get over it.

In the end, she didn't back out. MJ did her makeup and Ned wore a hat, and the three followed through on their plan, taking first the subway and then an Uber until they reached the house where the music was already too loud for Penny's enhanced senses. Still, she walked inside with her friends, not about to be the reason they had to leave before they even went in.

The music hit her like a brick wall as soon as Ned opened the front door, and she flinched as they stepped into the house. The last party she'd been to had been the one before Homecoming...Ned's mom had dropped them off and her father had been...well...maybe 'upset' was too light of a word to describe how her father had reacted when he'd found out that she'd left the party on her own. She'd come home at two in the morning, soaking wet from the lake the Vulture had dropped her into that she almost hadn't gotten out of, and had done her best to come up with some half-assed story about falling into a swimming pool.

She didn't plan on drinking. Okay...maybe one. She got one solo cup full of...well, it was alcohol but she wasn't sure what was in it, and she took a sip, spending the first few minutes of the party with MJ, talking and hiding in a corner with Ned. Then Ned started talking to some girl named Betty and there was an ache in Penny's heart that she didn't quite understand. She didn't have any kind of romantic feelings for Ned! He was her best friend! Right? They had known each other forever. They still had sleepovers! And the last person she'd liked had been Liz. But watching Ned smiling and laughing as he leaned in close to that girl...that really pretty, smart girl that put a hand on his shoulder and laughed made her stomach turn.

She was jealous.

She'd never been jealous of Ned! He was her best friend!

She drained the cup and tossed it in the garbage, the pounding music starting to cause a corresponding pounding in her head. This wasn't fun. MJ curled up on a sofa, observing everyone else after a while, and Penny found herself beside the drinks table with Flash who smirked at her. "What's wrong, Penis? Scared to drink?"

"No. I already had some."

"Yeah right. I doubt Daddy Stark would be too happy with his baby girl drinking." He mocked. She rolled her eyes, ready to leave it, but he kept going. "I'll bet you've never had a drink of alcohol in your life. Poor baby Stark…"

"You know what. Fine." She snapped, grabbing another cup. She was sick of him and sick of his taunts and sick of putting up with him every day. So she threw the cup back, feeling a twisted sense of pleasure and pride when he cheered, laughing and throwing back his own cup. The alcohol burned her throat and made her head spin, sitting uncomfortably in her stomach. But she'd done it.

"Damn, Stark! Then again, your dad was pretty wild in his day, right? I've seen the Youtube videos. Guess he taught you..." Penny's hand shot out, grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him closer so she could get in his face, the anger warring with the headache building in her skull.

"Don't you ever talk about my father." She told him softly, teeth bared, voice slurring a little. Thankfully she had an enhanced metabolism, so she hoped that alcohol would burn off sooner rather than later. Flash held up his hands, laughing drunkenly, and she wondered how much he'd already had.

"Alright, alright. Here. Chill out, Stark." He pushed another cup into her hand and staggered off, drinking his own cup full of whatever it was they were consuming. It was strong...it must have been, because when she tried to walk away, she stumbled a little, gripping the chair that had somehow found its way into her path.

She looked around the room but didn't see anyone she knew...well, not anyone she knew well. She took a swallow from the cup in her hand, flinching at the taste. It was gross, but she was getting used to it. When she'd drained the third cup, she tossed it at the wastebasket and missed, but she doubted she'd be able to bend down and pick it up, so she left it, stumbling away toward the living room. But pain spiked in her head as she walked and she felt her legs crumble, grabbing the wall to hold herself up. Thankfully, her fingers were sticky and she was able to balance against the wall for long enough that the dizziness passed.

She started walking again, finding herself in the bathroom where she closed the door behind her, turning the lock and leaning her back against the wall before slowly letting herself slide down. She wanted to go home...but she couldn't get home on her own...not at this point. She didn't have her suit, and besides, even if she had, she could barely walk, much less swing around the city. It would take forever to walk to the subway and she had enough cash for an Uber but she didn't want to take one alone, not while she was feeling so dizzy.

Curling up on the floor in the bathroom, she had to fight not to throw up. The music thumped, seeming to shake the room she was in, and she wondered if someone was going to call the cops on them. Her stomach rolled at the thought and she wondered if it was the fear or the alcohol making her sick. Ned was having a great time talking to some girl and MJ had disappeared somewhere and Penny felt tears fill her eyes. She wanted to go home. Everything hurt and she was shivering and she wanted to go home! This wasn't fun!

Her phone vibrated in her pocket and she pulled it out, a tear finally escaping. Her dad was calling...and she had to answer. No way she wouldn't answer if she were at Ned's. Taking a deep breath and telling herself that she wasn't going to get herself caught, she answered it. "Hey kiddo, how's the...studying." Her dad trailed off, chuckling a little. "You guys might want to turn down the music unless you want the neighbors to complain."

"Right...yeah. I'll tell Ned." She told him, doing her best to keep her voice steady as her stomach rolled.

"Pen? What's wrong?" He asked, voice going very serious all of a sudden. Of course. She'd never been able to fool him when something was wrong...even when she'd started being Spidergirl he'd been suspicious, but he'd also been busy. At the moment, his entire focus seemed to be on her. She tried to lie again anyway.

"Nothing…" 

"You're crying, Penny. What's the matter?"

"Just...uh...nothing." He was quiet, and she knew she'd have to come up with an excuse. She thought about Ned smiling at that other girl, something that shouldn't have upset her so much but did. "We just had an argument...it's fine…"

"I can come and get you." He told her without hesitating, but she shook her head, no matter how badly she wanted to go home.

"No...dad, I'm fine. It's...it's fine. We need to finish this project." She slurred a little, cursing her mouth for betraying her. 

Someone pounded on the bathroom door and she put a hand on her mouth choking on a sob at the noise. Her head was getting worse. "Penny? What's that?" He asked, and she realized she couldn't keep lying to him. Not with her head hurting as bad as it was. She was going to have to tell him.

"Dad, I'm sorry." She whimpered, silently apologizing to Ned and MJ. He was going to yell, and not only at her. They were all going to be in trouble. But she didn't know what else to do!

"Penny, I need you to tell me what's going on right now." He demanded, voice low and serious. "Honey?" He prompted when she hesitated. She didn't want to tell him. But she didn't have a choice.

"I lied to you. I'm so sorry...I knew you wouldn't let me come and it was so stupid and I...I'm sorry, Daddy." He released a long breath and she felt her heart stutter. He was mad.

"Okay, baby. I got the sorry part. What I need to know is where you are so I can come and get you."

"I'm at a party."

"Guessed as much from the music and the guilt. A party where?" She rattled off the address. "Alright. Stay on the phone, hon. I'm on my way."

"I'm so sorry, Dad."

"I know, kid. Did you drink anything?"

"Three." She muttered. "My head hurts...everything's too loud…"

"That's what drinking does for you, Pen. Remember that." He told her, voice terse, and she apologized again, voice faint. Pleading. "I know you're sorry, kiddo. Hang tight. I'm on my way. How are you feeling?"

"Bad." She whispered.

"What did you drink?"

"Three." She repeated.

"Three what, kid?"

"I don't know...three cups?"

"Yeah, okay." He muttered. "I'm about ten minutes out."

It was an excruciatingly long ten minutes, during which Penny had to drop the phone and found herself heaving over a toilet, doing her best to hold her own hair back, and afterwards sobbed, head resting on the toilet seat as she tried not to think about the fact that her head was resting on a toilet seat.

The pounding on the door continued and Penny forgot all about the phone on the floor beside her as she panted and sobbed, feeling gross and overwhelmed with the pain. She wanted her dad, even though he was mad at her. Even though she'd disappointed him. She'd disappointed her father. With that thought came old fears...old fears that she thought she'd left behind with therapy and years of reassurances. He wasn't going to love her anymore. She was going to lose him. She'd done something stupid and it was going to cost her her father. That pain was the worst...it was the pain she'd felt when her mom had died. That ripping in her heart, all-encompassing, burning outward from her chest to every extremity. She was going to be alone again. Alone. Her brain flashed to that morning when her dad had called her and suggested they watch movies together. What if she never got that again? What if he didn't love her anymore?

The sob almost choked her and she wrapped her arms around her torso, unable to stop. What if he didn't love her anymore? What if he didn't love her anymore? It was on repeat and she didn't know how to make it stop. She wanted her dad...she wanted him but not the him that was angry with her. The him that would wrap her in his arms and kiss her hair and call her his baby. How could she take all of this back? How could she go back to a time before she'd lied to him? Before she'd done something so stupid...again! Why would he want her after this? After she'd lied to him...again?

"Penny? Kid?" That was her dad's voice, and she wasn't sure how he'd managed to get inside the tiny bathroom, but he was rubbing a hand up and down her back, some of the ice from his voice melted. "Hey, kiddo. I'm here." He murmured, and she sobbed.

"Daddy...I'm so sorry…"

"I know, Pen. We'll talk about it later, okay? Let's get you up." He spoke wearily, and even as he helped her to her feet she cried, burying her face in his shoulder.

"I'm sorry...Dad, I'm sorry!" His arms went around her then, one in her hair, the other between her shoulder blades, rubbing soothing circles. When he spoke, he sounded worried. Well...more worried than before.

"Okay. Okay, kiddo. Talk to me. What's going on? You snuck out to a party behind my back and did some underage drinking. That's bad, but it's not that bad. You're okay." He paused for a long time as she tried to control the crying, and he rubbed her back. "Honey, take a breath, okay. You're going to be fine. Did something else happen?"

"I'm so sorry." She whimpered again, and he shook his head.

"I love you, Pen. So much. You know that, right?" She was quiet. Why would he? She'd messed everything up! "Baby, I love you so much. You're the best thing I ever did. You're my little girl. Nothing you do is going to make me stop loving you, least of all you sneaking off to a party. You got me?" She nodded, still hiding her face against his shoulder. She couldn't really believe him, but he was saying it and maybe...maybe he meant it? He always forgave her, but she'd lied to him! And her head hurt and her stomach rolled and it felt like her life was crumbling around her. "Alright, Spiderling. Obviously, you're a sad drunk." He told her, voice wry. "Let's get you out of here."

She nodded, leaning heavily against him as he led her out of the bathroom, and from there it was a loud, painful blur from the bathroom to the car where she curled up in the passenger seat, head against the window, until her dad pulled the middle console up, tugging her over to rest against him. "How do you feel, Pen?"

"It hurts...it was so loud and my head…" She whispered. He rubbed a hand up and down her back. "I'm sorry…"

"Alright, no more apologies, Pen. We'll talk about it later when you're feeling better." She sniffed. "I talked to Ned and told him that I was taking you home. I also told him to think very carefully about dragging you to any more parties."

"He didn't drag me." She whispered, and he kept the hand rubbing up and down her back. "Don't be mad at Ned," Penny begged. He hummed but didn't answer. "Thank you for coming to get me."

He paused, then rested his head briefly against hers. "Baby, I'll always come and get you. No matter where you are, no matter what stupid thing you've done, I will always come for you if you need me. Okay?" She nodded, sniffing softly, and she felt his lips on her hair. "How's your head now?"

"Hurts."

"Here." He pressed a bottle of water from the side door cup holder into her hands. "Take a drink. It'll help." She did, taking a big swallow, then groaning when her stomach clenched.

"I feel sick."

"Like you're going to throw up?" She nodded. "Okay. Let me know before you do and I'll pull over." She hummed in agreement, closing her eyes until they got back to the tower, and he practically carried her into the building, arms firm around her as he scooped her up into his arms in the elevator. She managed to hold off on throwing up until she was in her bedroom, and then she made it about five minutes before throwing up all over herself, the bed, and her dad. Before she could sob out more apologies, he tossed her dirty blanket onto the floor and helped her into the bathroom so that she could clean herself up. "You want me to get Pepper? To help you clean up?" She shook her head. "Okay. Get cleaned up. I'll wait for you out here."

She managed a shower somehow, then was able to change into her pajamas before stumbling back into her bedroom where her dad had changed her sheets and also his own clothes. Had she thrown up on him? She'd already forgotten somehow. She just wanted to sleep. 

"Lay down, kiddo." He urged, helping her onto the bed where he covered her up, tucking her in like when she was little. "Don't cry." He murmured when tears started to fall again, running a hand through her hair and ordering Friday to lower the lights. "Try to get some sleep, okay? We can talk in the morning."

"I'm sorry, Dad...I shouldn't have gone…"

"You're right, you shouldn't have." He hesitated, jaw tight, then his face relaxed, a hand cupping her cheek. "But it's okay. I forgive you, baby. Just rest and we'll talk about it tomorrow."


	3. Day 3: Taken

**Day 3: Taken**

“Mr. Stark?” Penny’s voice was a strained whisper thrown across the room, a lifeline to a man she barely knew. The man in question didn’t even stir and she wanted to press her fingers to his throat...make sure he was breathing. Taking a deep breath, she leaned her head against the clammy wall, listening. Holding her own breath, tuning out her heartbeat. And there it was. Mr. Stark’s faint breathing. A heart thumping in his chest without the protection of the arc reactor. He was alive.

The room was dim. And large. They’d taken her first. A dart in the neck that had dropped her on her way home from school. When she’d woken up, she’d been in this room with the chain and there had been another body on the other side of the room...Mr. Stark. And she hadn’t been able to break the chain. She was weak...they must have drugged her again. But she had so many questions. Did they know she was Spidergirl? Why else would they have taken her? She hadn’t seen Mr. Stark since he’d driven her home after Germany so why…why had they taken her? Did they know who she was? Why had they taken Mr. Stark? How had they taken Mr. Stark? 

Penny curled up on the floor, head slumping to the ground. The floor was dry, thankfully, but the room was cold. It was pretty big, but thanks to the chain attached to her ankle she couldn’t move more than about five feet. Knees tucked to her chest, she shivered, dressed only in t-shirt and jeans. The cuff around her ankle was too tight to slip out of, and she wasn’t strong enough to break it. Not yet. Hopefully whatever they’d given her would wear off soon. 

She closed her eyes, ignoring the pain in her stomach...the deep, gnawing hunger. Mr. Stark was here with her. He was going to get them out. Whatever this was, he would save them. He was a hero...it was what he did. And she could help! As soon as whatever they had injected her with wore off. 

The door was thrown open as she tried to get some rest, hoping to distract herself from the hunger. She rolled over, curling up in the corner and watching the man in the mask approach, something in his hand...a needle. She shuddered, wishing she could phase through the wall, but he came right for her, batting her hand away and grabbing her by the hair, ignoring her cry of pain when he plunged the needle into her neck. “Freak.” He spat, throwing her back against the wall, making her head bounce against the concrete. 

And then he was gone.

Her head spun, and she felt herself listing sideways, body slumping down onto the ground. She didn’t sleep though...the room seemed to move around her, and she couldn’t sit back up...couldn’t lift her limbs. 

On the other side of the room, there was a groan and she watched through half-lidded eyes as Mr. Stark started to stir, a hand pressed against his head. “Fuck.” He rasped, looking around, then dropping back down onto the ground for a moment. “Shit. Fuck!” She thought about informing him of her presence but she felt like she was slipping back into sleep...had they given her something stronger this time? “What the hell?” 

She watched him sit up, and then she was dozing, floating in a warm darkness for what felt like only seconds before a door slammed someone was yelling...and then someone grabbed her by the hair again, the scream ripped through her throat as she was pulled up to her knees. “Let her go. Let her go now and I’ll do whatever you want.” Someone said, voice soft and flat...terrified. 

“Consider her your motivation, Stark.” 

“No. I’m not doing a fucking thing with her here.” He snapped. That sounded like Mr. Stark. What was he talking about?

“Okay...then go ahead and get rid of her.” Something sharp pushed her throat and Mr. Stark screamed...less of a word and more of an anguished plea. The person holding her hesitated and she wished she could move...wished she could fight back.

“Don’t...no...don’t hurt her…”

“Alright then.” The sharp thing was pulled away from her throat and the hand in her hair released, dropping her back to the unforgiving concrete. 

“What did you give her?”

“Oh, just a little something to suppress those pesky Spider powers of hers.” He swore again and she wondered if she’d ever heard him swear that much as she fought to get her limbs to respond, tasting blood in her mouth from where she’d bitten her tongue. “Alright, Stark. Get a list together. I’ll be back in a few hours.”

The door slammed shut behind the man and then someone was beside her, a hand on her shoulder. “Kid? Come on, kid. You with me?” Mr. Stark asked, shaking her a little. “Kid?” 

“Mhm.” She agreed, nodding and then opening and closing her hands, trying to get them to respond. Something was laid over her then, wrapped around her, and she looked up to see that it was a suit jacket. He’d been in a suit. 

“Alright, kid. Up.” He ordered, grasping her shoulders and helping her sit up, leaning her back against the wall when she swayed. “Pen?”

“Mhm. Yeah.” She muttered, wiping a hand over her face clumsily. 

“You good?”

“Yeah.” 

“Okay.” He gave her a firm pat on the shoulder. “Okay. We’re gonna get out of here. Just gotta wait for that drug to wear off. Any chance you know what they gave you?” She made a noise, muttering something almost unintelligible, and he sighed. “Right. You just hang tight.” He tightened the jacket around her, rubbing her arm for a second.

Mr. Stark sighed, standing and heading purposefully over to the middle of the room where there was a table...then turned the other way, walking toward the place on the floor where he’d been sleeping...then back to the table. He was pacing. She closed her eyes, trying to stave off the dizziness, but she needed something to eat. And something to drink. But she wasn’t sure how to ask...not when he was in no more position to get those things than she was. 

He paced for a long time and she felt the drugs start to burn off. “List?” She asked. He stopped pacing then, turning on his heels to look at her. “List of what?”

“Don’t worry about it, kid.” He told her, and she felt a stab of something...frustration? Hurt? Did he not trust her? 

“List of what?” She repeated, voice a little harder, and he sighed, crossing his arms. 

“Can you break that?” He asked, jerking his chin toward the chain on her ankle. She grabbed it, squeezing, but her hands barely responded, and so she shook her head with a sigh, dropping her head against the wall. He swore again, and she felt that hurt again.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered, and immediately his posture changed. 

“Don’t...it’s not your fault, kid. Those drugs will wear off soon. Are you sure you’re okay?” She nodded, not about to tell him she was a little hungry. 

He went back to pacing, shaking his head as he did. “Okay...okay.” He murmured, going back to the table in the middle of the room and then leaning his hands on it, head hanging low. The room was mostly empty otherwise...a table. The chain. Some boxes over on the other side of the room by a high window with bars. She could rip those off if she was strong enough. She could be strong enough. Penny grabbed the chain again, squeezing again...feeling it give just a little. But she wasn’t strong enough. Not yet. 

And she was hungry. So hungry. And thirsty.

Penny must have dozed because the next thing she knew a door was opening again, and Mr. Stark stood from where he’d been sitting at that table. “It’s been two hours. Do you have a list?”

“Here’s the deal. You let that kid go and I’ll give you…”

The man snorted, the sound cutting him off, and then two more men entered the room, all of them wearing masks. The two new additions pointed the huge guns at Mr. Stark who put his hands up. “Oh your knees.” One of them ordered, and he followed the order, not looking too happy about it, but his eyes went straight to Penny. After a moment, she realized that the third man was coming towards her, no gun in hand but still, she pulled back, knees to her chest, pressed against the wall. He knelt by her feet without fanfare, unlocking the cuff around her ankle, then, in a flash, before she could try to run or come up with a plan, he grabbed her by the hair, yanking her to her feet. 

She screamed, unable to help the noise, and Mr. Stark shouted from his place by the table. “Get your hands off her!” His voice was furious...but desperate.

“You give us the list, you get your pet Spider back.” The man told him simply. “I’m not playing games with you, Stark. You have an hour.” 

“How are you even going to find…”

“That’s not your problem, Stark. Tell us what you need and we’ll get it. Until then, we keep the girl. 

The hand on her hair forced her forward, yanking her through the door without so much as a chance to glance back at Mr. Stark, then through a long hallway, her feet stumbling to keep up with the hand in her hair, and then into another room. A dark room...pitch black. He threw her in and she hit a wall, crumbling to the floor and then curling up in the corner. It was a closet. She was in an empty closet. 

She had to help Mr. Stark. 

She had to think.

Okay, she told herself. She had to think. They hadn’t injected her with those drugs again...if they thought she was still weak from them, they might not give her more. And then she could break out. So she had to do some acting. Resting her head against the wall, she closed her eyes, utterly surrounded by the darkness. She would get them out. But she didn’t have her webshooters! They had been in her backpack and they had taken her backpack when they’d taken her. Not with her suit...she had a spare pair. 

If she could find her backpack...if she could break out of this closet and stay hidden...or should she wait? Wait until she was in that room with Mr. Stark with the window and get them both out? She didn’t know. Didn’t know what to do. She gave tourists directions and saved animals from trees...stopped muggings. Stopped the occasional car from careening into the occasional bus. She didn’t know how to get herself and Iron Man away from a group of armed gunmen. 

But Mr. Stark had seen something in her...he’d seen her on Youtube and had decided to bring her to Germany. And no, she hadn’t seen him since, but he was a busy man. Right? And, okay...so Happy had been ignoring her. But Happy didn’t seem to like her much anyway. So, she would prove herself now. She would prove to him that she deserved to be here...that she could be an Avenger. 

She wasn’t sure how long they kept her in that closet. It was impossible to keep track, considering how dark it was...how quiet. She had to close her eyes and really focus to hear anything...to hear the quiet muttering voices in another room. She tried to focus even more...to hear what was going on outside. To get a clue as to where they were. She thought she heard a car, but honestly, she couldn’t tell. But slowly, she could feel her strength returning as the drugs wore off. She was still cold and still so, so hungry...but she was getting strong again.

The other room had had a window at the very top, just big enough to squeeze through, like a window you’d find in a basement, but she couldn’t be sure. Once they got out, they’d have to be able to get help...they couldn’t just run! These guys had guns and there seemed to be a lot of them. 

The door opened to her little closet after what felt like a very long time, and she blinked weakly at the light from her spot on the ground, shivering and cringing back. “Think it needs more?”

“Kid! Get up!” A second voice snapped, and, deciding it was time to try for her Oscar, she started to push herself up but flopped back to the ground, moaning. “Shit...how strong was that stuff they gave her?”

“Strong enough to take out Captain America.” The first one said, sounding proud. She doubted that. 

Then one of the hands was back in her hair, forcing her to her feet. “Hey wait…”

“Stark gave us the list. Boss said to give him the kid back.” 

“Yeah, but…” the hand in her hair yanked her head back, bringing her face to face with the ski mask. “Don’t you think he needs to know what happens when he doesn’t follow orders?” The other guy chuckled a little, shaking his head, and then the first one brought back a fist that slammed into her nose, and she screamed when she felt it crack, bringing one hand up to pull weakly at the wrist of the hand that held her. Whimpering and flinching away, she wondered a bit if she was overacting, but ski masks 1 and 2 both chuckled.

“Can’t believe this is the Spidergirl.” One of them laughed, and she let her legs crumble, breathing through the pain of the hand still in her hair, her scalp on fire. She was eye level with the man’s hip when she spotted it...grabbing at his shirt, hand brushing his hip, she whimpered again, pawing at him like a sad dog. 

“Please...please...let me go…I won’t tell...please,” She begged, and the hand in her hair released her, dropping her back down onto the floor. 

“Alright, that’s enough. Get her back to Stark. He said he’d only start building if we gave him the freak back.”

A hand gripped her arm, pulling hard and forcing her back to her feet. Blood dripped down her face and into her mouth, and she curled up on herself, keeping her hands pressed tight to her stomach. The ski mask’s eyes followed her hands and she spoke before he could try to get a better look. “Hungry...please.” She mumbled, stumbling along while she was pulled. “Please…”

“Shut up, kid.” The man ordered, and she dropped her head back to her chest. No way they could escape through this building. Too many people. There were at least five armed gunmen, and she didn’t have her suit or her webshooters. But she could get them out that window...or Mr. Stark could call for backup. He was definitely in charge of strategy. 

They dragged her back into the room and she opened one eye, glancing through the hair that hung limp in her face to see Mr. Stark on the ground, hands on his head, two huge guns pointed at his head. One of the men holding her shoved her back into the corner and she went limp, one hand hidden under her body as it wrapped around her stomach, the other vulnerable on the floor while the men fastened the cuff back around her ankle. “She still out of it?” One of the men pointing a gun at Mr. Stark asked.

“Yeah. Apparently, we gave her a bit too much.” 

“Is she still breathing?”

“Oh yeah. Was begging us not to hurt her. Some superhero you recruited, huh, Stark?” The man closest to her chuckled, then joined the others. “You’ll have what you need by tomorrow.”

“How about some food, huh?” Mr. Stark snapped.

“Oh, so now he’s making demands!" One of them laughed. The one who'd dragged her away by her hair. "Watch it, Stark. You already got your pet back. Don’t make us take her away again...this time we might keep her.”

There was quiet for a few moments as the men left, door slamming behind them, and in an instant he was at her side, a shaking, hesitant hand on her shoulder. “Kid? Talk to me. You alright?” He asked, practically begging. 

Penny looked up at him, uncurling a little, holding out a hand and showing him what she’d grabbed. At first, he seemed confused, but then a slow, pleased smile lit up his face. “Thought you might be able to use this.” She whispered with a grin. He chuckled, taking the cell phone and nodded. 

“Good job, kid.” His voice was almost a whisper, eyes shining as he looked up at her from the phone. Those words made her stomach clench in the best possible way, a heat filling her whole body. He was proud of her. Iron man was proud of her! He’d told her that she’d done a good job! Penny sat up, squeezing one of the links of the chain, pleased when she was able to break it without too much effort, carefully slipping the chain away and leaving her foot where it was, just in case they came back in. To her surprise, Mr. Stark sat down beside her, shoulder right against hers as he dialed a number, waiting for a second as it rang, then spoke.

“Hey, Honey Bear, it's me. I’m in a pickle.” Laughing a little, she leaned her head back against the wall, closing her eyes, and after a moment, an arm wrapped around her, pulling her close. “Think the Spiderkid and I could get a ride? And maybe some backup?”


	4. Torture

**Day 6: Torture**

*****Warning for well....torture….because….you know...the prompt*****

“She won’t tell you anything.” Natasha Romanoff was in the chair across from her, blood dripping down her cheeks from a nasty looking cut that crossed from one side of her forehead to the other, disappearing into her hair sweaty, matted red hair. Her hands were bound behind her, bare feet on the floor, not even flinching at the knife only centimeters away from her nose.

The man holding the knife grinned over at the woman who’d spoken. “You don’t think so?”

“This is the Black Widow. Natasha Romanoff.”

“Yes, the Avenger.”

“The double-crossing Russian spy turned superhero. She’s been doing this shit since she was old enough to walk. She’s not going to break.” The woman spoke with a laugh in her voice, lips turned up, a casual hand brushing some hair back as if there weren’t flecks of blood on her slacks. “Does the red room mean anything to you?”

“Red room? What, like that Hill House show?” The man asked, and Penny felt her lips turn up just a little as she stared at the floor.

“Hey, no spoilers. I haven’t finished it yet.” She spoke, knowing it was a bad idea and doing it anyway. Natasha’s expression didn’t change...not a muscle did so much as flinch, and Penny wondered for the thousandth time if Natasha Romanoff would actually care if these people did something to her. So far, it had only been the Black Widow who’d suffered. Penny had no hopes that that would last. She was sure that Spidergirl would get her turn.

They’d been captured during a mission. Well...not so much a mission, it turned out, as a trap. It had been her first mission with Natasha. The others had been there too, but she’d been on the ground, both spiders checking the basement which, as it turned out, had a secret entrance around back. And Hydra agents with guns...and vibranium handcuffs. As it turned out, Penny couldn’t break out of vibranium handcuffs. And neither of them were bulletproof. 

The woman turned to her, smiling with something like delight. “Spidergirl. Never would have suspected that the other spider was a child but…” She waved a hand at Penny, glancing back at Natasha, then taking the blade from the man and approaching Penny slowly. 

“I’m not going to tell you anything either.” Penny told them, glaring and trying to look fierce, and also trying not to remember the fact that Mr. Stark had once told her that her intimidating face made her look like an ‘angry kitten.’ The woman with the knife was apparently not impressed. 

“She doesn’t know anything,” Natasha spoke for the first time, apart from the few grunts of pain she’d given up earlier. When the knife had slid her head open. “She’s a child. A trainee. Stark said we had to let her tag along, but she doesn’t know anything. We don’t tell her anything.” 

Penny had to push back the hurt. Did Natasha mean that? The woman had never seemed overly friendly but...still. “Oh, I’m sure she doesn’t.” The women approached Penny with a wave of her hand over her shoulder, and the man left the room. “But you do, Miss Romanoff. Let’s see how much the Avengers care about their trainees.” 

Natasha met Penny’s eyes then, questioning. 

Penny shook her head. “She won’t tell you anything,” Penny informed the woman, surprised at how flat her own voice came out. Natasha couldn’t tell them anything...not because of her. A tiny smile quirked the corner of the Black Widow’s mouth. A tiny nod. The woman moved over to a table in the corner, picking up something that she slipped over her fingers, letting it rest on her knuckles. Penny had only seen brass knuckles in movies...she had never thought about them actually existing...about the fact that one day a woman would slip her fingers through them and punch Penny in the face with them. 

A fist broke her nose. It was well aimed…almost like the woman had done this before. Penny bit down on her lip, staring straight ahead, knowing that Natasha was watching. That the woman was counting on her to be strong. So she would be. 

Another punch. A grunt of pain. More like a whine. 

Another. Then another. Penny felt a bone in her cheek break, gasping as her skin broke open and blood drip down her face. Her head snapped to the side each time, even when she tried to flinch away. She gasped for air, the pain forcing the grunts and cries from her lips. And Natasha watched, stone-faced, her stillness giving Penny strength. The greatest super-spy in the world was counting on her.

The woman stopped hitting her then, grabbing her by the chin instead and forcing her face up to the light hanging above them. “Well, Natasha? Still have nothing to say?”

Penny shook her head, just a little.

“No,” Natasha told her simply.

The woman smirked. “Alright.” Moving back over to the table, she slipped her fingers almost delicately out of the brass knuckles, leaving them there, dripping blood onto the wood surface underneath, and then the man rejoined them. Kneeling in front of ther, the woman grabbed her ankle, stretching her leg out, and Penny watched the man approach, head pounding as she attempted to struggle. The woman held her tight, though, and the room spun around her, making it hard to fight. “Natasha? Are you sure?” 

Penny met her eyes. Natasha lifted her eyebrows.

Penny shook her head.

“I’m not telling you anything.”

A foot came down...the man’s. Lifted up high, then came down hard halfway between her knee and her ankle, and Penny howled. There was no other word for it...she howled, the world going white around the edges as she screamed, everything in her telling her to beg Natasha to help her...to tell them anything if they would just stop. But she didn’t. Wouldn’t let herself. Not even when the foot came down again on the same spot and she fought against the handcuffs that didn’t give an inch.

When it came down a third time, everything went black.

Penny woke to a hand on her cheek...not hitting her. Just touching. Fingers brushing over deep cuts. “Penny? Kid?”

Penny gasped when she woke fully, eyes huge as she looked around, but it was Natasha, crouching in front of her. “Natasha?” She whimpered, lips trembling, and the woman gave her a soft smile. 

“Hey...hey, little spider. It’s okay, milaya.” The woman murmured. “You did so good...Tony was right to recruit you” A hand ran through her hair and Penny bit back a sob, trying to breathe through the pain in her leg. “I know...it’s okay malen'kiy pauk. Stay with me.” Natasha ran a gentle thumb under her eye, wiping away a tear mixing with the blood that stung the cuts on her face. “We’re getting out now.” 

“I didn’t...didn’t tell them…”

“I know.” Natasha moved behind her, and she felt the woman doing something to her hands...picking the locks. “You didn’t tell them anything.” Suddenly her arms were released and Natasha moved around to her front once more, looping an arm around the girl. Penny gripped the woman’s shoulder, crying out when she started to stand, her leg giving a stab of pain. “Yep...yep, that hurts. I know. It’s broken…just hang on to me. I’m going to get you out of here and back to the medbay. How’s that sound?”

Penny pressed her lips together, taking an agonizing, hobbling step forward and doing her best not to move her right leg. It didn’t really work and the keening noise escaped against her will. “Just lean on me, kiddo. We’re getting out.” 

“How...how did you…”

“I picked the locks on my handcuffs. It’s okay. We’re going home.”

“Where are they?” She slurred a little. Talking hurt so much...moving her mouth jared the broken bone in her cheek, and her head was pounding in time with her pulse, every cut and every bruise throbbing along with it. 

“Regrouping. We need to get out before they come back.” She adjusted her arm around Penny, but the girl stumbled again. “Okay...if I put you on my back, can you hang on?” She nodded, and Natasha crouched in front of her, letting the girl wrap her arms around her neck. “Hang on tight. We’re going to get out of here.”

Penny heard gunshots. Gunshots close to her head. But Natasha was with her and nothing hurt more than before, so she kept her eyes closed, feeling like she had when she was little and her mom had carried her in her arms...as long as her mom was holding her, she was safe. As long as Natasha was with her, she was safe. Natasha thought that she’d done good. Thought that she deserved to be there...that Mr. Stark was right to have recruited her. So she rested her head on the woman’s shoulder, vaguely aware of her arms lifting and gunshots going off and screaming, but then they beside a car. She wasn’t sure exactly where Natasha had gotten the car...or the gun for that matter. But she didn’t care. The spy eased her into the passenger seat, carefully unwinding her fingers from around her neck. 

“There you go kid. Just hang on.” She watched Natasha flinch a little when she couldn’t bite back a cry of pain, her leg shifting as she sat her down. “I know...we’ll get that fixed soon.” Penny nodded, dazed, and drifted for the entirety of the car ride until someone else was there. 

Mr. Stark crouched beside the car, a hand touching her shoulder, voice frantic. “Kid? Natasha, what the hell…where have you been? What happened to her?"

Natasha elbowed him aside, reaching out for Penny and scooping her up in her arms. “Get the med team. Broken right femur, that’s the worst. We need to get that treated. Bruising. Cuts that we don’t want to get infected…” The woman kept talking and Penny’s head dropped against her shoulder, choking out a broken sob when she scooped her up, jostling her leg. “I know...I know, little spider. We’re almost done.” She soothed softly, lips close to her hair.

Another voice joined the mix then. “Nat? How did you…”

“Here. Carry her.” Suddenly she was in someone else’s arms and she screamed, head thrown back as her leg was moved. “Sorry, milaya.” She murmured, a hand pushing some hair back. Opening her eyes a little, Penny realized she was in Steve’s arms...the man was carrying her quickly towards the Compound, Mr. Stark hurrying along beside her, barking orders into a phone, throwing frantic looks at her. 

“What happened? One second you were in…”

“It was a trap. They wanted information on the Avengers. Tortured her to get it.” Mr. Stark made a strange noise beside her, but Penny couldn’t make herself turn to look at him again. “She was amazing. Didn’t say a thing. You were right, Tony.” 

Closing her eyes and resting her head against Captain America’s very large chest, she let him carry her, trying not to cry out when he accidentally moved her leg, remembering instead that Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, had just called her amazing.


	5. Imprisoned

**It's Febwhump Day 7!! On February 8th! So I'm not great at this...but I promise I'm doing my best :)**

****

Day 7: Imprisoned

Penny Parker crawled forward, glad for her new stealth suit. It had been a gift from Mr. Stark...mostly the same as her old one, but this one came in a stylish, slimming black with a dark blue spider covering her back. On their chest was a smaller blue spider where droney lived, but she wasn't going to risk using him just yet. There were sensors and cameras everywhere. She had to be careful.

It was strange, being in a suit again. Ever since the Snap...ever since coming back, she'd been different. She didn't know how to explain it...but she couldn't stand being in the suits anymore. Couldn't bear the thought of those suits on her skin and her skin disintegrating...turning to ash…

After coming back on Titan, surrounded by the Guardians and Doctor Strange, she may have had a minor freak out. "Get it off...get it off me!" She had cried, voice rising from normal to hysterical too quickly. The nanotech suit has rippled around her almost uncertainly, and then Doctor Strange had done something..somehow they'd been in a weird building she'd never seen before...his home, apparently. The sanctum something. A place where wizards lived. And then Mr. Stark had been there, reaching out for her, eyes huge and desperate. "Mr. Stark...Mr. Stark get it off!" She'd sobbed, scratching uselessly against the suit.

Immediately he'd done something...said something. In her haze, she hadn't noticed what exactly it was he'd been doing. But then she'd been in only her old suit. But that, too, had felt like it was choking her, and she'd slammed a hand against the spider on her chest, letting it fall away and gasping for air in a tank top and shorts. A cloak had come to rest over her shoulders all by itself, wrapping itself around her as she had sobbed, Mr. Stark's arms going around her as well to hold her up.

"Alright, Pen. You're okay. I've got you. You're okay." He'd murmured into her hair, holding her close. "It's okay now."

It had been two months and she hadn't been in the suit since. Not in any of them, although Mr. Stark had made her two more in the meantime. May watched her always, and on the frequent days she spent in Mr. Stark's lab, considering school still wasn't back in session, she did homework packets and helped around the lab, neither of them ever saying anything about the elephant in the room, even when he worked on her suit. Suits. New suits. She'd helped some, neither of them mentioning the fact that she might never wear them again.

She had wanted to ask if Mr. Stark would keep her around...if she never put the suit on again. But she'd been too afraid to ask.

Then Ross had come along.

She was almost certain what she was doing was illegal, but he'd broken the law first. She was an Avenger, sure, but not officially. And why Ross thought he could get away with taking Iron Man was beyond her. Maybe because he'd done so on foreign soil. But this Russian prison, while not a place she'd ever want to be held, was not nearly as secure as the Raft according to Scott Lang who was her secret partner for this secret, non-sanctioned mission.

"Alright, kid. I'm in the control room."Ant-Mann spoke into her comms. The others hadn't exactly approved of this….okay, so they hadn't known about it. Penny hadn't trusted any of them enough, honestly. She hadn't told Scott either but he'd been in the room when she'd asked Friday to power up Mr. Stark's private plane and get her a pilot to fly her across the world. She have override privileges thanks to Mr. Stark, so Friday would do just about anything she ordered. So she'd ordered the private plane and private pilot and absolute secrecy. As far as the Avengers still living in the compound, she was going back to May's or...well, she didn't really care what they thought. They had no way of tracking her and Friday would never tell.

But Scott Lang had been in the hanger, arms crossed, eyebrow lifted. "Going on vacation?" He had asked, startling her, and she'd whirled around, fists clenched. She'd barely spoken to Ant Man since first meeting him at the airport in Germany, but she knew he had a kid and she knew that he was always nice to her. She had been spending a lot of time at the Compound, as had Scott, so they'd run into each other occasionally. But at the time, she'd been in a hurry.

Mr. Stark had been on a business trip. Friday had informed the team that there had been a problem, and that he would be delayed.

Then Penny had hacked into Friday to find out what was really going on...found the footage from his car...found out that they had been driving in a car together, and that the car had wrecked...and then FRIDAY had shown the footage of Ross dragging an unconscious Mr. Stark away. And she hadn't really stopped to consider what she was doing. Hadn't hesitated. She'd just started moving, grabbing her suit and Mr. Stark's nanotech casing, then racing to the landing pad.

Which was where she'd found Scott who had insisted on coming. She'd explained everything on the way and, to her surprise, he hadn't tried to convince her to tell the others. After everything, the others had all looked at her strangely...like she was fragile. Like a child. Of course, none of them really knew her apart from Rhodey. To the rest, she was an intern and small-time vigilante who'd accidentally gotten caught up in all this. Who never even put on the suit anymore.

None of that mattered. What mattered was that she was getting Mr. Stark out. She wasn't going to wait for the government or the Avengers...she would do it herself. With Scott.

There was a small vent on the outside of the building and she had had little difficulty slipping inside thanks to Scott and his Russian ant friends, all of whom had found new homes on the security cameras. "He's on the fourth floor, the third cell from the door." Scott hesitated. "I'm on my way there too."

"I don't need…"

"I'm here to be backup, kid. Let me be backup."

So she stopped arguing, focusing instead on the cold knot of dread in her stomach. She needed to save Mr. Stark. Needed to get him out of here. Once they were out of the prison, it was a quick run to the jet. She'd brought his nanobot casing...it was currently tucked into a bag she was carrying on her back. He hadn't worn it since Titan. But she hadn't been able to think of another way to get him out. She would have to wear her suit and he would have to wear his.

But it wasn't like Titan. That wasn't going to happen again. They were safe...well...safer. Safer than they had been when they'd been on another planet in the middle of space with a genocidal maniac.

Penny crawled through the vents, letting Karen guide her to the fourth floor. Karen had been happy to hear from her. She hadn't spoken to her AI since coming back to life...she'd been dead. Really dead. And...and Karen had missed her and she'd missed Karen and…

She focused on the feel of her hands and feet, on the vent, on the red line of her display leading her to Mr. Stark. That was all. Karen didn't try to speak to her again. Didn't make small talk or ask how she had been. She must have been able to tell that Penny couldn't take it. That she couldn't hear that AI and not remember being told that she was running out of air...couldn't bear to remember the ship taking her to space or crashing on Titan or holding onto Mr. Stark and his arms around her and him promising that she was alright but she wasn't she was falling apart her whole body was falling apart she was turning to dust!

"Penny, your heart rate is rising." Karen murmured then, and she took a deep breath, shaking her head.

"I'm fine." She whispered, continuing to crawl toward the floor where Mr. Stark's cell was.

There were guards on the floor underneath the vent where she took deep breaths, staring down through the small holes that made patterns on their heads and shoulders. Of course. She'd known that there would be guards. But she had Scott for backup, and he informed her as she crawled through the holes of a vent above the hallway of the fourth floor that he was in place. Ready. Waiting. She placed her hands over the vent, looking around the hallway. There were four guards that she could see...and she could have waited, but honestly, she just wanted to get to Mr. Stark. Needed to see that he was okay.

She slammed her hands down onto the vent, letting it clatter to the floor, then dropped, landing easily on her toes. She had landed in front of Mr. Stark's cell, but she didn't look at him even though she heard him cry out in surprise. Instead, she stared at the men through her mask. There were four guards...two close, two further away. The men all jumped, whirling to face her, but she was faster. She took out the closest one with a punch to the nose, using enough force to knock him out, but not to kill him. Spidergirl didn't kill people. But she might give them concussions if they crossed her. The next one started to draw his gun and she moved on instinct, following the steps that Natasha had taught her. Jump, hook the leg around the neck, grip with the knees, spin, throw your weight.

A gun was cocked then, and Scott exploded into action, appearing as if from nowhere. Penny ducked, letting her spidey sense guide her as Scott grabbed the guard's arm and wrestled the gun away. Two more.

"Give him the nano-thingy!" Scott ordered, shrinking and jumping onto the shoulder of another guard. It was almost funny to see the man's face jerk to the side, losing his balance as the tiny man punched him in the cheek. He was right...there were more guards in this prison. They couldn't take all of them out alone. And they needed to get out soon. Before more guards came.

Looking up and around at the cells, she found Mr. Stark almost immediately. He was pale...a cut on his lip had been bleeding at some point but had since stopped. His left arm was held awkwardly to his chest, and he stared up at her from wide, bruised eyes. "Kid?" He whispered.

She shrugged the backpack off. Glancing back and making sure Scott had her covered, she grabbed the bars, pulling hard and yanking one out of the concrete, tossing it aside, then grabbing another. Then she pulled the casing out of her backpack, tossing the glowing blue triangle through the bars and turning back to fight. Mr. Stark scrambled to grab it as Penny caught the fist of another guard, shoving him off balance and delivering an unforgiving kick to his face.

She wanted to find Ross.

She wanted to get Mr. Stark to safety even more.

She glanced up once the last of the guards was down thanks to Scott, smiling a little when she found herself looking into the faceplate of Iron Man. "Ready to get out of here?" She asked, hands shaking just a little. She wanted out of this suit. Wanted him out of that suit. Wanted to go back to the lab and back to safety.

The Iron Man suit nodded. "How'd you even get here, kid?" He asked as Scott disappeared, going tiny once more and hopping onto a flying bug...possibly an ant. She couldn't tell.

"Doesn't matter. Let's go." He turned toward the wall, holding up a hand, and she flinched at the sound of the repulsor charging. The sound of the wall blowing outwards, the blast knocking bricks and concrete into the air below. He held out a hand to her and she grabbed it without thinking, throwing her arms around his neck and holding onto his back as he took flight. She rested her forehead against his back, gripping her trembling hands together around his neck as screaming and gunshots broke out behind them. They were too far away though...already almost to the jet. She didn't look back...just clenched her hands and stuck herself to the back of the Iron Man armor, closing her eyes and breathing.

She wanted out of that suit.

Scott met them at the jet and she slid off of Mr. Stark's back, all of them hurrying onto the jet where the pilot waited, taking off as soon as they were inside. She stumbled a little as the plane started to move, and Mr. Stark touched the casing on his chest, tapping it twice and causing the armor to retract. She wanted to rip her suit off...wanted to tear it to pieces. But Tony had made it for her.

He removed the casing from his chest, dropping it onto a seat and reaching out his good arm to steady her. "I'm fine...are you okay?" She asked, nodding her head toward his arm. He waved her off.

"Fine. Where are the others?"

"I didn't tell them." Her voice was hoarse for some reason. Afraid. But she wasn't afraid. She'd saved him. "Just...just came…didn't want to wait. " She shrugged and Mr. Stark rested a hand on her arm.

"Come sit down, huh?" Penny nodded, letting him guide her into a seat where he strapped a seat belt around her, taking the seat beside hers. "Scott. How did you get recruited?"

"Right place, right time." Ant Man told him with a grin, his worried eyes sliding over Penny as he jerked his head toward the back of the huge private plane.

"Pen?"

"I need to get it off…" She whispered. It was like a prison on her skin...she couldn't move and she couldn't breathe and she was going to disintegrate again.

"Okay." Tony murmured, groaning as he shifted. He was hurt. She pulled away, starting to get up, but he kept a hand on her shoulder.

"You're hurt." She whispered.

"I'll be fine, kid." Mr. Stark promised her.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Mr. Stark."

"Nothing to be sorry about."

"I can't even…" She started, but he shook his head.

"Kid, you think I don't get it?" She paused then, turning to face him, taking a ragged breath. "You think I don't have nightmares every night? That I don't freak out every time I think about putting on the armor? That…" He shook his head, swallowing hard and running his right hand over his face. "I...I am intimately acquainted with PTSD, kiddo." She just swallowed hard, nodding a little. "Alright. Did you bring a change of clothes?" She shook her head. "Okay." He stood, but she reached out, grabbing his arm with a shaking hand.

"I'm sorry." She choked out. "I shouldn't…"

"Penny, it's okay…" He started, placing his hand over hers, but she shook her head.

"No. No, I should be….I shouldn't be so afraid. I'm Spidergirl! I'm a superhero! All I did was...was die and you...you saved everyone. You had to fix it. But I didn't even...didn't even do anything." She sobbed, shaking her head. "And what if I can never...never be Spidergirl again without...without being af...afraid…and…"

Mr. Stark sat back down, opening his arms and letting her hide her face against his chest, wrapping his arms tightly around her. "Shhh." He murmured, rubbing her back and rocking them a little. "Okay. It's okay."

"I'm supposed to be a superhero." She whimpered, heart clenching from the pain of it...from the unfairness.

"You are an Avenger, Penny." He murmured, voice quiet but firm. "You're a superhero. You helped me save the world. And what you went through was...it was fucked up, kid. Traumatic. Awful. No one blames you for having trouble getting over this. There's no hurry. And hey...you just put on the suit and flew across the country to save me. So I'd say that's pretty brave." She shrugged and he held her closer, lips pressing to the top of her head. "And if you never want to be Spidergirl again, you'll still be my kid. That's forever, kiddo."


	6. Bullied

**Day 8!! I won't be doing Day 9 but will be back for Day 10 :) Thank you so much to everyone who is reading and revieiwing!!!**

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**Day 8: Bullied**

Penny and May moved a lot. It was something Tony had noticed over the last year since the whole Vulture fiasco. They had been in a fairly nice apartment when he'd first come to recruit the girl which, by the way, had been kind of a hard sell. Still, the apartment had been small, but it was New York so that hadn't exactly been strange. It was neat and tidy. Lived in, but nothing had been dirty. He'd caught sight of a wedding photo and a picture of Penny between her aunt and the man who must have been her uncle. But then he'd been offered a walnut date loaf and Tony Stark was many things but rude to women inviting him into their homes and offering him homemade food was not one of them. So he'd suffered through several bites of loaf and had let himself get distracted.

The first time they'd moved had been right after Penny had returned home from Germany, but the Avengers had been in shambles and Tony hadn't paid all that much attention. Happy was the one in charge of keeping an eye on the girl anyway and had mentioned in passing that she lived a few blocks away from her old apartment. He hadn't given that much thought...Happy had also mentioned that it was a nice place and the kid seemed safe, so he hadn't said anything about it. Also, he'd been trying to keep his distance. The girl was sweet. She was innocent and a little naive, and he hadn't wanted to ruin any of that.

Of course, he'd found out pretty quickly that keeping his distance wasn't going to work, thus the offer of a real internship. Well...more of a mentorship. He called every week or so, had her over every month to check up on her suit and install upgrades and generally just make sure she was okay.

Once a month had soon turned into twice a month, which had turned into every weekend. The kid had a way of getting under his skin. Because she was sweet and innocent and a little naive, but also brave. So, so brave. And good. And smart. One of the smartest kids he'd never met. She could keep up with him in the lab, and she looked at him like...like he'd saved her life. Like she owed it all to him when really, she would have gotten there on her own eventually. It would have just taken her a little longer. So he'd stepped in. Given her the resources she'd needed.

But she could have done it without him.

Still, this kid liked him. She'd been in his lab with him and worked with him...eaten dinner with him and Pepper and had then chosen to spend even more time with him. That hadn't happened all that often in his life and…

He brushed the thought away as he stared at the chair where, up until five minutes ago, his intern had sat, working on her webshooters. She'd been quiet. And Penny Parker was never quiet. Penny Parker was bright eyes and stupid jokes and giggling at his own stupid jokes. She was telling him all about her day and offering him a glass of water when she got herself one and asking him science question after science question that he was always more than happy to answer. But today...today had been different.

She'd arrived right on time, thanks to Happy, but had been...subdued. Practically on mute. Sure, she'd smiled at him and sure, she'd been wearing a t-shirt with Thor on it, and of course, she'd laughed a little when he'd teased her about it, but she hadn't been the same. And alarm bells had started to go off. "Kid?" He'd asked, a few minutes later. She'd gotten right to work, pulling her webshooters out of her backpack and handing him the suit. "You good?"

"Huh? Yeah." She'd given him a weak smile...the kind of smile that didn't get anywhere near her eyes.

"Yeah? 'Cause usually you're about fifteen minutes into the essay on how your day has been by now." He had cursed himself almost as soon as the words had come out of her mouth, not wanting to hurt her feelings or make her think that he didn't want to hear all about her day. Because he did. But at the moment, he was worried.

"Oh...uh...my day was fine." She'd told him, shrugging. "Boring."

He'd gotten a closer look then, leaning in, and she'd looked back up at him with the same dead smile. Her eyes had been dull, underscored by dark shadows, face pale. "Are you feeling okay?" He'd asked, knowing he was pushing.

"Of course." She had given a weak laugh. "I haven't been sick since the bite." He'd hummed, turning back to her suit, but Penny hadn't gotten back to the webshooters right away. Instead, she'd run a hand over her face, blinking heavily, then yawning before getting back to her tinkering.

He'd pushed again a few minutes later after she'd yawned again. "You staying out too late to patrol?"

"No...no, we uh...I was up late last night because we moved and...and we have to unpack everything." He'd frowned at that, remembering that they'd just moved apartments less than a year ago.

"Really? Everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah...the uh...the rent went up so…" She had shrugged, seeming a little embarrassed. He had decided to brush past that, not wanting to embarrass her even more.

"Is the new place far from the old one?"

"Not really." She'd shrugged again. "A few blocks. But…" And she'd started to tell him. She'd opened her mouth to say something. But then Friday had butted in.

"Boss, you have an incoming call from Pepper Potts."

"I'll call her right back."

And that had been that, but the girl had gone back to staring at her webshooters. "Sorry about that kid. What were you saying?"

She'd given him a brief smile, barely looking up from her webshooters. "Oh. Just, uh...it's kind of small. But it's fine."

And he'd stopped pushing. But as soon as she'd gone, he'd told Friday to bring up her new address, the names of every person in that building, and the landlord. Sadly, he hadn't been able to find much. Names, sure. And a couple of DUI's on a couple of the other residents...it was a six story walk up, which must suck for her aunt, but Penny hadn't complained about it...just mentioned that it was small.

Maybe he was being paranoid. Maybe...maybe nothing was wrong. Maybe she was just tired.

Then he got a text from her four days later. "Could you please pick me up?"

"Where are you?" He answered immediately, jumping up from his desk where he'd been filling out some paperwork and racing toward the garage.

Penny had never, not once, in the history of their relationship, asked him for something like that. Once, she'd fallen off a roof and broken her ankle, and he'd had to find out from Karen who had overruled Penny's many, many pleas not to call him. "School." Was the one-word response he received.

Okay. So she was at school...it was 7:45...school had started less than an hour ago...he didn't ask any questions. instead, he sent a quick "I'll be there as fast as I can" and he'd driven as fast as possible without getting caught.

Pulling up outside the school, he'd hesitated, then pulled out his phone again. "I'm here."

And then she appeared from around the corner, hood up, hands shoved in her pockets, head down. "Kid?" He asked. "You alright?" She sniffed a little.

"May's at work and...I'm sorry...I…"

"Hey, it's fine, kid. I don't mind picking you up. Here." He opened the passenger side door and tried to catch a glimpse of her face. She kept her head down though, turning slightly away from him. So he climbed in the driver's side, pulling out of the parking lot before another thought occurred to him. "Does the school know where you are?" She hesitated, then shook her head. "Right." Sighing, he pulled out his phone. "Friday, call May Parker and inform her that Penny is sick and that I'm taking her home. See if she can call the school." With that, he set the phone down.

"Mr. Stark, I'm really…". He held up a hand.

"Don't be sorry, kid. It's no problem." She opened her mouth, then closed it with an audible click, lowering her head once more. She was tense...obviously waiting for a dressing down or an interrogation. And that's exactly what Howard would have given him.

He wasn't Howard.

So he turned on the radio as he drove to the tower, pulling into the garage in comfortable silence, then parking the car by the door. It wasn't until they stepped onto his floor of the tower, both of them moving to the living room, that he gestured to the sofa and finally spoke. "Take a seat, kid." He offered, and she did, curling up in the corner of the couch. He took the seat beside her, hoping he wasn't too close. That he wasn't overstepping. "So…"

"I can just go home…". She murmured. He shook his head.

"You don't have to go anywhere, Pen. Are you sick?" She just shrugged, hood still up, face down. "You cold?" He asked, making his voice light, but she sniffed and he felt his heart clenched, sure he looked like a deer in the headlights. "Penny?"

Then, reaching out with unsteady hands, he pushed her hood back, stomach dropping when he got it past her hair.

The makeup barely covered the bruises. Her eye was swelling...makeup couldn't hide that. Her lip had been busted open, and there was a cut on her cheek. These bruises hadn't happened on patrol, because had some random criminal somehow managed to beat the shit out of her, Friday would have informed him.

His brain put it all together in seconds, during which she refused to meet his eyes.

One. Someone had beaten her. Two. She'd allowed it, which meant she must have been in her civilian clothes. Three. Those were fresh bruises, eye still swelling. It had happened sometime within the last few hours. Four. Tony was going to make someone pay.

"Who was it?" He asked, voice almost flat. She clenched her jaw.

"It won't happen again. It's fine."

"Penny." He warned. Like a dad. His own dad had used that tone, so to soften the warning, he reached out, resting a hand on her shoulder. "C'mon, honey."

Penny hesitated for a long time...so long that Tony nearly gave up. But then she spoke, voice barely a whisper. "May..."

He thought he might throw up. "What?"

"No...no I mean...I was...I was trying to protect May." She swallowed hard. "And Flash…"

"Wait this happened at school?" He cried, incredulous, and she shook her head, lips trembling, and he squeezed her shoulder, leaning in to meet her eye. They were red-rimmed under the bruises, pleading. "Okay...I'm sorry. No more interrupting. What happened."

She took a deep breath, hands tight in her lap as she stared down at them. That was fine. She didn't have to look at him. "Flash saw...we were in the hall and I thought I'd covered it up in the bathroom but I couldn't and he saw my face and...he got kind of freaked out and asked what had happened and…".

Well, that was a surprise. The little bully was usually more likely to make fun of her but apparently, even he had been concerned.

"We had to move into this new place." She started again, hands tight in her lap. He sat back, literally biting his tongue and warning himself to just listen. "The other landlord jacked up the rent and we couldn't afford it anymore, so May found this new apartment and we moved in...the guy that owns it said he'd give us a deal for the first month." She shrugged. "May didn't tell me much. But...he's...he was trying to get her to go out with him and...and she said no and then he changed the deal and she had to pay more…".

Tony clenched his hands into fists at his sides. "He didn't do anything to her...but she left early this morning and I woke up and he was beating on the door...I think he thought she was still home. Then he unlocked the door and came in…"

"He came into your apartment?" He repeated, not loving his angry the question sounded but he couldn't help it. Some man had walked into Penny's apartment when she'd been home alone. And yeah, she was Spidergirl. She was strong and could take care of herself when it came to criminals on the street. But that was her home! And she should feel safe in her own home. She was just a kid, for crying out loud.

"I told him to get out...tried to push him out but…"

"He hurt you."

"I let him." She hurried to remind him. "I could have stopped him but I couldn't let him...I couldn't let him find out." She told him softly. "He...he was yelling about rent and asking where May was...I loved him back and he hit me. I couldn't fight back and let him know who I was so…" She trailed off, bringing a finger up to her cheek and wiping her eye. He scooted forward, reaching out an arm and wrapping it hesitantly around her. "I tried to cover it up with makeup but Flash saw and…"

"I hate to break this to you, Spiderling, but makeup isn't going to cover that up." He brought a careful finger up to brush it over her the bruise on her cheek. "Did he leave? After he hit you?" She nodded.

"Yeah...he hit me a couple of times and then...he told me I'd better not tell anyone." He clenched his jaw and the girl hurried to apologize because, for some reason, she thought that everything was her fault. Was it possible that they were related? Because they certainly had that in common. "I'm sorry...I should…"

"Nope. My turn." He murmured. "Okay. Here's what we're going to do. You're going to wash your face, and then we'll take care of the cuts. Then, I'm going to call May…"

"No!" He ignored her outburst, going on as if she hadn't spoken.

"We're going to call May and tell her that I'm going to help you find a new apartment. A nice apartment. In a safe neighborhood. That you won't have to move out of after a few months if the rent goes up. I'll get my guys to help you move your stuff."

"No, Mr. Stark, you don't have to…"

"Consider it an internship perk." He waved her off, standing and pointing down the hall. "Go. Clean up, then we'll make sure those cuts don't get infected. They should be healed by tomorrow...or at least look a lot better, but either way, we have to tell May. She needs to know what happened, and then Pepper and I will help you find a new apartment."

"But…"

"Go on, Spiderling." He urged, holding a hand out and pulling her to her feet, then gave her a push toward the hallway. "We'll get this taken care of." But in the meantime, he was going to take care of that asshole.

Pulling out his phone, he sent a message to Rhodey. "Hey, honeybear. Wanna help me intimidate an asshole later?"

The response took about a minute as he pulled out a first aid kit from the kitchen counter. "Tones, you know we can't do that."

Tony rolled his eyes. "He broke into my fifteen-year-old intern's apartment and beat the shit out of her."

This time, the reply was immediate. "Where is he?"


	7. Head Trauma

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**Day 10: Head Trauma**

Tony glanced over at his seven-year-old daughter, the movement almost a compulsion. It had been a year now...a year since he'd gotten a call letting him know that not only had the woman he'd had a one-night-stand with had died, but also that she'd had a daughter. And that the daughter was his. A year since he'd had the paternity test done and a year since he'd gotten sole custody of the girl. The tiny, sweet, frightened little girl that looked up at him with his own eyes. That he'd hired a nanny to watch after...and then, fired the same nanny after finding out that the woman had told his little girl that he would be angry with her if she broke some stupid rules.

The girl's birthday had been a few weeks ago, and he may have gone all out. Bouncy castle, a huge cake, and a handful of other kids from her class. Ned, who had quickly become her best friend, and some other kids that she'd asked if she could invite. He'd stood on the sidelines with Pepper and Rhodey, mingling with the other parents who had brought Penny presents. That had almost been unexpected. He hadn't thought about the fact that the other people would give her presents. But she'd gotten LEGO sets and art sets, dolls and stuffed animals...and then she'd very carefully and very neatly put all of it away in her room.

Her almost uncannily tidy room. Pepper thought that was troubling but Tony was sure she was fine. The little girl was very well behaved. He almost never had to ask her more than once to do anything. She went to bed on time, letting him tuck her in and never arguing when he told her it was time to sleep. She got herself ready for school and ate her vegetables and kept out of the way. And Pepper had tried telling him something about trauma but the girl seemed happy to him. So he kept an eye on her. Hired a new nanny who mostly just watched her when he had to go out of town and neither Rhodey or Pepper could babysit, which was rare.

He didn't need a full-time nanny, he'd argued with Pepper after he'd fired the woman. Plenty of working parents got by without a nanny. He could look after her...and besides, she'd be in school! He would just need someone to watch her when no one else was available.

Pepper had been skeptical. "Tony, she's six. She needs someone to spend time with her."

"I'll spend time with her. She's my daughter, Pep." Tony had cried, keeping his voice down as best he could. The little girl had been sick and had fallen asleep about an hour ago...he'd been right in the middle of sending the text that would fire the other woman. The one who'd hurt his kid. "I can take care of my daughter."

"I'm not saying you can't, Tony. But it might be harder than you think…"

He'd dismissed her, and...okay, yes, it had sometimes been harder than he'd expected. He'd had to figure out how to get his work done while she was at school since he had been afraid of letting her down in the lab. But today, he'd decided to bring her down to the lab and let her play while he worked.

Her face had been adorably serious when he'd given her the rules for being in his lab...of course, there's weren't many. Don't touch anything without permission. Don't wander off. That was about it. She'd nodded, going to the spot he'd set up for her and working quietly on her toys and book the whole time.

He glanced at her again. He must have checked on her seven times in the last three minutes, but still. The girl sat at a desk in the corner building a LEGO set, a little chapter book on the floor beside her...something about ponies or fairies or puppies...or something. It had been a gift from Pepper. But the girl was more interested in building most of the time. A stuffed rabbit, which had been one of his birthday gifts for her, was on her lap, and occasionally she'd give it a squeeze. She'd gotten home from school about an hour ago and had been working quietly ever since, happy to get to see his lab for the first time. Maybe when she was older, he'd let her do some real work down here. He had gotten her a chemistry set for her birthday...maybe they could play with it together later. For the moment, though, he was glad that she could apparently work down here with him. It would make getting his own work done easier.

"Daddy?" He jumped a little, looking up from the phone he'd been tinkering with.

"Yeah, sweetie?"

"I'm hungry. Can I get something to eat?" He checked his watch, frowning a little. He was nearly done but it was almost five...close to dinnertime. He realized it probably wasn't a great idea to have her down here every day...it wouldn't be good for her to be cooped up for hours. "Just a snack. I can go get it by myself." She must have been hungry, he thought with a pang, to actually ask. She almost never asked him for anything. Even when they went out together...even when he would catch her looking at toys and LEGO sets...she would never ask.

He hesitated...then nodded. That would be fine, right? "Yeah, okay We'll make dinner as soon as I'm done. Bring it down here to eat."

"Okay." The girl nodded, jumping up from her desk and hurrying over to the elevator. "Jarvis, can I go to the kitchen please?" Tony chuckled a little as the elevator doors opened and the girl stepped inside.

Then he got back to work, putting the phone back together and taking notes. This phone was set to hit the markets in three weeks, and Pepper insisted that he finish his final review up by the end of the day. So he worked as quickly as he could while still taking notes on the phone and ways it could be improved which, by this point, was almost none. He smiled down at his work, releasing a breath and putting it down on the table. Done.

"Sir?" Jarvis spoke, voice urgent.

"Hm?"

"Sir, Penny has fallen off a chair and seems to be injured." Tony froze, looking up at the ceiling.

"What?" He asked, jumping to his feet. "What?"

"Penny has…"

"No, I heard you! Why was she on a chair?" He demanded, racing toward the elevator, feeling as though he were moving through liquid. He couldn't breathe right...Penny was hurt. He'd left her alone and she was hurt!

"Penny was attempting to reach a jar of peanut butter on the top shelf," His AI informed him. Tony swore, hand shaking as the elevator shot him up to the penthouse. "She wanted to make you a sandwich."

The elevator deposited him onto the top floor and he raced into the living room, then the kitchen where he felt his whole body freeze, blood turning to ice. There was blood...she was on the floor and there was blood...he couldn't breathe...he couldn't move. She wasn't moving...she was on the floor and there was blood and she wasn't moving. "Jarvis...Jarvis...call...call someone." He begged, choking on his words. "Call...get help…" He jerked his leg forward, then another, hands shaking as he forced his way toward her, dropping to his knees and reaching out to press trembling fingers to her throat. "Penny? Penelope? Baby?" He felt a tear drip down his cheek.

Her pulse beat against his fingers but he didn't dare touch her anymore. The blood was a halo around her head...she'd hit it on the counter. He could see the chair, the shelf...the peanut butter she hadn't been able to reach.

The corner of the island where she'd hit her head. "I have contacted an ambulance and they are on their way. I have also contacted Colonel Rhodes." And then his phone was ringing in his pocket and he placed a gentle hand on her cheek, watching the blood soak into her long, tangled brown hair. Then he lifted the phone to his ear.

"Tony, Jarvis just called...what's going on?"

"Rhodey...I don't know what to do...she...she fell...she…"

"Tony, take a breath." Rhodey urged, his words soft and calm. "I'm on my way over. Did you call an ambulance?"

"Yes." He whispered. The girl didn't move. Didn't flinch.

"Okay. I can meet you at the hospital. You said she's breathing?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I…" He held the hand over her nose and after what felt like too long, he felt a puff of air. "Yes."

"Good. That's good. Can you tell me what happened?" The elevator left the floor then, and he had to assume that it was headed for the bottom floor to let the EMTs in.

"She came up here alone...we were in my lab but I told her she could come in here alone and get something to eat. I should have...should have come with her. I just...I needed to finish the damn phone…" His voice caught and he pressed a hand to his mouth. He was kneeling beside her and there was blood on his pants. Her blood. His little girl's blood.

"Okay...it's okay, Tones. She's going to be okay. Just...take a couple of deep breaths. Then what happened?"

"She wanted to make me a sandwich and she...she climbed up on a chair and...she fell. Hit her head on the corner of the cabinet...she isn't waking up, Rhodey."

"Is the ambulance close?"

"They're on their way up," Tony whispered.

The next hour was a terrible blur. Two women and a man came into his penthouse with a stretcher and shifted his daughter on a backboard, then lifted it onto a stretcher, securing a collar around her neck. She looked so impossibly small then...so tiny. Helpless. She didn't move or flinch or even seem to breathe and Tony just stood there...helpless. He'd let her come up alone and she was just a baby and...then he was in an ambulance. Then a hospital waiting room. He had no real memory of anything else...he was just sitting in a plastic chair, staring down at his hands and trying to remember how to breathe. 

Then Rhodey was beside him, wrapping his arms around Tony's shoulders and Tony felt himself crumble, sobbing into his friend's shoulder. "Rhodey...she...she fell...I wasn't with her…"

"Tony, it was an accident." He whispered, rubbing Tony's back. The mechanic shook his head.

"No...no I didn't come with her. I left her alone and...I can't...I can't do this, Rhodey. I can't...I'm supposed to be her father and...I fired the nanny and said I could watch her but I…"

"Okay...okay. Come on." Rhodey urged, helping him sit and taking the chair beside him, rubbing constant circles over his back. "Take a breath, Tones. It's okay. What did the doctor say?"

"Nothing, yet," Tony whispered.

"Okay." He pulled away just a little, hands on his shoulders. "Listen to me. You love that little girl. She's your daughter, and you have been an excellent father. Everyone knows it. She loves you so much, and you are doing everything right. She's a happy, smart, healthy kid. This was an accident. Kids get hurt sometimes...they fall and break bones and bump their heads. But she's going to be fine."

"You don't know that."

Rhodey shook his head, then glanced up, and Tony followed his gaze to Pepper who was suddenly standing in the doorway to the waiting room. "Tony?" She whispered, a hand over her mouth. "Jarvis called me."

"She...Pep...she was just alone for a second…"

His assistant and sort of girlfriend hurried to his side, wrapping her arms around him, and he buried his face in her shoulder. "Tony…" She sat beside him, a hand in his hair, and he shook his head.

"She was getting something to eat...she wanted to make me a fucking sandwich…"

"Honey, this wasn't your fault." Pepper murmured into his hair, shaking her head. "Jarvis told me what happened."

"I let this happen. I should have been…"

"You can't be with her every second. This was an accident."

Tony didn't care. Didn't care if it had been an accident or not. His little girl was hurt and he hadn't been there.

The doctor called for him about half an hour later, the man reaching out and shaking his hand. "Mr. Stark. I'm Doctor Samson. Could you come with me?" Rhodey and Pepper came too, their footsteps right behind him as he followed the doctor. "Your daughter, Penelope, fell off of a chair, correct?" Tony nodded. "There was a cut on her head that required six stitches, and she has been unconscious since she was brought in. We did a CT scan and she appears to have a mild concussion, though we won't know for sure until she wakes up."

"When...when is she going to wake up?" Tony asked as they paused in front of a door.

"We can't know for sure. But you're welcome to sit with her. Um...family only at the moment, though." Tony nodded, and Rhodey dropped a hand on his arm.

"We're going to be in the waiting room. Just call if you need anything." Tony forced himself to nod, stepping into the room and freezing.

"I know it looks scary, but she's doing just fine." The doctor's voice was like a humming in the background. Like he was under water. "We'll be notified when she wakes up and can do some tests to make sure there's no brain damage." Just those words made him sick. Brain damage. His baby girl could have brain damage because he hadn't been there. He'd left her alone because he'd been too busy…

The doctor was gone then, and he moved to her side, sitting gingerly in a chair beside her bed. Hesitantly, he rested a hand on hers. There was a bandage wrapped around her head and a pulse monitor on her tiny finger. A monitor beside her told him that her heart was beating steadily and that she was breathing. That was all he needed to know, and closing his eyes, he gripped her hand gently in his, choking back a sob and dropping his head on her bed. "Baby...I'm so sorry...I'm so sorry, Pen. I'm sorry I was busy and I'm sorry...I'm sorry I didn't just come with you. I…" He closed his eyes, rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand. "It's okay. I'm right here with you, baby. You won't be alone. I promise...just...wake up. Please? Please wake up for me, baby." The hand in his twitched and her fingers tightened a little around his. "Baby?" He asked, looking up and sniffing, running a hand over his eyes. "Pen? Honey, can you hear me?"

"Da…" She coughed a little, eyes closing tight and then opening a little. "Daddy?"

"Hey...hey, baby." Tony reached out, putting a hand on her cheek.

"Daddy...my head hurts…"

"I know." He whispered, gently brushing her hair back. It had been soaked in blood but they'd tied it back, cleaning her up. "You hit your head. Do you remember?"

"Daddy…" She whimpered, eyes darting around the room, huge tears pooling in her eyes and dripping down her cheeks. "Where are we? I'm...I'm scared…"

"No...no, baby, don't be scared." He urged, reaching out and wiping a tear away. "It's okay. You're fine. We're in a hospital. You fell and hit your head."

The girl just closed her eyes, lips trembling, tears still running down her cheeks, and he moved to sit on the bed beside her, gathering her into his arms, careful of the wires, and held her close. "I'm here, baby. It's okay. You're going to be fine." He promised, smoothing her hair, trying not to touch the stitches or the spot in her hair where they'd had to cut it a little. Tony thought of the blood soaking her hair...he would take her to get her hair cut once they got out of here. "My head hurts." She whimpered, and he rocked her back and forth. "I wanna go home…"

"I know. We're going to go home soon." He promised. "It's okay, baby. Uncle Rhodey and Aunt Pepper are both here too." He assured her. "As soon as the doctors check on you, I'm going to see when we can take you home. Okay?" She hesitated, then nodded, sniffing and wiping clumsily at her eyes. He reached down, wiping her tears away and kissing the top of her head. "There's my brave girl." He murmured. "I love you so much, baby."

She rested her head against his chest, curling up against him and snuggling close. "Love you too, Daddy."

He could do this. This was his daughter and he would do anything to protect her. Anything.


	8. Amnesia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Day 11! I really enjoyed this one! I can't promise that day 12 will happen but we'll see :) I hope you like it.

****

**Day 11: Amnesia**

Penny opened her eyes. She opened her eyes and stared at the sky and frowned.

Where was she? Bringing a hand up to her head, she flinched, stomach rolling when her fingers came by bloody. Taking a deep breath, she dropped her hand to the ground...to the concrete. She was laying on the concrete, on the roof? She looked around, her stomach dropping. She could see the sky...and other rooftops. How...how had she gotten on a roof?

"Penny?" A woman asked, and she jumped, looking around wildly.

"Hello?" She whispered. Something was wrong. Something was...different. She was scared. She wanted to go home. How long had she been asleep? How long had she been...on a roof?

Aunt May and Uncle Ben were going to freak.

"Hello, Penny." The girl looked around wildly once more, but no one was on the roof with her. Hands shaking, she started to push herself up but cried out when her leg gave a throb of pain. She glanced down at it, gasping in pain. "You appear to be injured." Penny brought a hand up again, touching the fabric over her face. She was wearing a mask. "Now calling…" Penny ripped it off, throwing the mask down onto the concrete with trembling hands.

She was wearing something...weird. Red and blue spandex. There was a hole in her thigh right above her knee. Whimpering she pressed a hand to it, gasping when that only hurt more. Scanning the area beside her, she searched for her phone but didn't see it.

Putting a hand over her mouth, she tried to fight back the sob. She didn't know where she was. She didn't know how to get off this roof...and she'd been...stabbed? Shot? Why didn't she remember? What was she even doing?

The sound of thrusters hit her then, and she looked up, mouth dropping open. Iron Man?

The armor dropped onto the roof a few feet away and she flinched back when it made a beeline for her. "Kid? You alright?"

Since when did Iron Man fly around the city looking for hurt kids on roofs? Her heart raced as the armor approached, the face plate flipping up and revealing her personal hero, genius billionaire Tony Stark. And he looked worried. "Kid?" He repeated, and she expected him to ask what exactly she was wearing and how she'd found herself on a roof, but he didn't. He just moved to crouch in front of her, reaching out a hand to touch her leg.

"I...I don't know...I don't know what happened, Mr. Stark." She sobbed, trying to stop the tears. He looked up, lips pressed tightly together as he met her eyes for a moment.

"Looks like a stab wound." He murmured, fingers touching the edge of the hole in her leg and she flinched, hissing out a breath. "Okay...you hurt anywhere else?" Wordlessly, she brought a hand up to the back of her head, then showed him the blood. He swore under his breath, reaching out a surprisingly gentle hand to tilt her head. "Alright…". He murmured. "Here." Opening the suit, he climbed out. Tony Stark. Tony Stark was on the roof with her. He grabbed the bottom of his shirt, ripping off a section at the seam, then reached for her leg.

"Sir...what are you doing here?" He gave her a strange look and she wanted to take the question back, but it was so surreal...why was Iron Man here with her?

"Karen called me, kid." He told her, tone telling her that this should be obvious. Wrapping the cloth around her leg right above the hole, he tied it tight. She wanted to ask who Karen was but then he was climbing back into the suit then reaching for her, starting to scoop her up.

"What...what are you doing?" She asked, scooting back.

He froze, looking up at her, still confused. "I'm taking you to the Tower, kid. Bruce can take a look at you."

"What...no...no...I just...I need a Doctor…please, I…"

"Penny?" His voice had gone soft, eyes narrow as he leaned in, moving a metal covered hand to her shoulder. She hadn't been this close to Tony Stark since the expo and...and...did he just say her name?

"How do you know my name?"

He clenched his jaw, dropping his eyes for a moment. "Penny...do you know who I am?" She nodded, feeling her eyes widen.

"Of course, Mr. Stark." His lips twitched into a sad smile.

"Have we ever met?" She hesitated.

"Um...just once. At your expo when all the robots, um...anyway, you saved me. I was wearing that Iron Man mask and…". His jaw dropped, jerking his head back as if she'd slapped him. "Um...so thank you. But...but I don't…"

"Okay. Here's what's going to happen. I'm going to take you to the tower…"

"But…"

"Doctor Bruce Banner is there and he's going to help. He's a doctor. He can figure out what's going on."

"Why can't I just go to the hospital?" He sighed, and she had to fight the urge to apologize.

"Look...we...we know each other, kid. You're my intern." She shook her head but he held up a hand. "I think something happened to you...it made you forget. But right now, I have to ask you to trust me. Can you do that, Pen?"

She hesitated, then nodded. Tony Stark wouldn't hurt her...right?

"Okay. I'm going to fly us to the tower…" He trailed off when she felt her blood drain from her face, scooting back and trembling. "Kid?"

"I...I'm...I'm scared...I don't want to...I'm sorry…" He squeezed her shoulder.

"Okay. That's okay. How about this. I'll carry you down to the ground and call a car. But we have to put your mask back on." She nodded slowly.

"Thank you."

"Of course. Alright, kid." He pulled out a phone. "Hap? I need a car to the location I'm sending you. Fast as you can." Then he hung up, dialing another number. "Bruce? I'm bringing Penny in. She's hurt...Friday and Karen are going to send you everything." There was a pause, then he smiled. Not a happy smile. But still...a smile. "Yeah. Alright. Thanks." He reached over, grabbing the mask and handing it to her.

"Someone talked to me...in the mask…" She whispered, afraid he'd think she was crazy. He just nodded though.

"Yeah, that's Karen. She's you AI."

"Why do I have an AI?" Penny asked, more confused than afraid. Something about this man made her feel safe even though she'd never really met him.

"It's...it's a really long story. Look, we're going to get your memory back. You're going to be fine. Just...go ahead and put the mask back on and…" He glanced down at his phone, nodding. "Happy is almost here. We've got to get you down to the ground. Here." She flinched again, but this time he slipped an arm under her shoulders and then her legs. "Just trust me, kiddo. I won't drop you. Just hang on." She didn't want to...he was walking toward the edge of the roof and she closed her eyes, gripping his armor and trembling. His arms held her close, her arms wrapping around his neck and...denting the armor? She started to leg go but he patted her back.

"It's fine, kid. Just hang on." She hid her face against his shoulder, gripping him easily, fingers sticking to his suit. "There you go, Spiderling." He told her, voice calm. Even. "I'm going to fly us down to the ground, then we'll get in a car. Don't look if you're scared."

"I'm sorry…" She whispered.

"Nope. Don't be sorry. Jumping off a roof in a robot suit with a person you don't remember, that's scary. You're a brave kid though." Then his thrusters ignited and they were floating slowly down to the ground. Her stomach flipped, gripping him even tighter. "Almost there. Don't worry. You scared of heights?" She shook her head.

"Not usually." She rasped, and he chuckled.

"Yeah, I didn't think so. So just the flying part, huh?" She nodded. "Can't blame you there. You know, I flew face first into a concrete wall the first time I tried to fly. Worked all the bugs out since, of course. But, hey, it wasn't always easy. Jarvis helped a lot. My AI. And Friday now..new AI." Suddenly there was a clank as his boots touched solid, and she took a deep breath, relaxing in his arms. "There we go."

There was a black car pulling up to the curb beside them, Mr. Stark carrying her over to the back of the car. A man with a worried scowl jumped out of the driver's seat, racing around the car and opening the door for them. "Alright, kid. Sorry...this is going to hurt a little." He told her, still calm. Even-toned. She gasped, eyes slamming shut as he eased her into the back seat. But her hands were gripping his suit...stuck to them! And she couldn't let go!

"I'm sorry...I can't...sir I…"

"It's fine, kiddo." He remained where he was, bent over, her hands still stuck to the back of his armor. "Just relax."

"Why am I….why can't I let go?"

"Another long story." He told her with a wry smile. "Close your eyes, okay? Just for a second." She swallowed hard, then did as he asked. "Okay. Deep breath." She took one through trembling lips, then another. "Good. Now think about letting go."

She breathed. She imagined her fingers letting go...and then her hands released, and she stared down at them, then up at the man beside her.

"There you go." He shut the car door, then, to her surprise, opened the one on the other side, sliding into the back seat beside her. "How's the head?"

Now that she was in a comfortable car, leaning back in a plush seat and feeling somewhat safe again, she felt her adrenaline start to crash. "Hm? Not bad." She murmured, eyes starting to drift shut.

"Woah, woah kiddo. No sleeping. Not until Bruce gets a good look at you." He shook her shoulder.

"Need to call Aunt May and Uncle Ben." He was silent and she opened her eyes, glancing over at Mr. Stark who seemed to have lost some color. "Is...is that okay? Am I allowed…"

"Yeah, kiddo. Of course. I'll contact...them, as soon as we get you back to the tower."

Mr. Stark has sent his suit home, so when he climbed out of the back, she wondered how he would carry her. As it turned out, he didn't. Instead, a man she'd only seen on TV approached the car, opening her door and bending down to get a better look. "Penny? Are you alright?"

Penny stared at him, jaw unhinged, as she looked back at Mr. Stark who was climbing out of the seat beside her, then came to stand beside the man. "Captain...Captain America?" She asked, voice faltering. "Sir? Mr...Mr. Captain Rogers...I…"

The man glanced over at Mr. Stark who shook his head. "Penny, this is Steve. Steve, can you help me get her to the medbay?"

"Of course." He murmured, reaching out an arm and, before she could protest, she was in Captain America's arms, head on his shoulder. "Penny? You with me, kiddo?"

"I...yes I…yeah." She trailed off, looking between the two men. What was going on? How was she in Stark Tower? In the arms of Captain America. Hanging out with Tony Stark? This couldn't be real?

Mr. Rogers set her down on a bed in a large room filled with medical equipment, taking a step back to make room for Bruce Banner who came in carrying a clipboard, eyebrows furrowed in concern. "Penny? What happened? Tony said you were stabbed."

"Doctor Banner, I...it's so...amazing to meet you!" She cried, trying not to focus on her throbbing leg or the fact that her headache was getting worse.

"Wow. I didn't warrant that reaction, apparently." Mr. Stark murmured, but his smile was strained. "Found her on a rooftop. Doesn't remember anything." Iron Man informed Dr. Banner who came closer, a hand brushing against her chin, tilting her head to the side so that he could get a better look at the cut on her head.

"Okay…". Doctor Banner murmured, looking her in the eye, apparently noticing her hesitation. "I'm Bruce."

"Do I...Mr. Stark said that I know you too? I'm sorry…"

"No need to be sorry." He assured her, face softening. "You do know me, but let's find out why you don't anymore. Can you tell me what you do remember?"

"Um...just...coming home from school, I think. I was on my way home." He nodded as Mr. Rogers stepped out of the room.

"Okay. That's good. What's your full name?"

"Penelope Parker."

"How old are you?"

"Thirteen." Mr. Stark went very still at that, staring down at his hands, and Doctor Banner swallowed hard. "I...right? I'm...I'm thirteen. I mean...I'll be fourteen in a few months but…". Doctor Banner smiled at her, but it was forced.

"You actually just had your sixteenth birthday." He told her, voice soft and gentle. She shook her head.

"No, I'm…". To her embarrassment, her eyes were heating up. "I'm thirteen. I would remember…". Her words broke off and a warm hand landed on her shoulder, squeezing.

"It's alright, kiddo. We're going to figure this out. Just...let the good doctor take some blood and run some tests, okay?" Mr. Stark murmured, and she nodded, wiping her tears away and sniffling.

She was sixteen.

She knew Iron Man.

She was terrified.

Doctor Banner took blood, performed a CT scan, and wrapped her leg which was healing really quickly. Penny didn't ask why. She couldn't bring herself to. Not when she could dent the Iron Man armor and stick to things...she didn't want know. Didn't know if she could handle knowing. When he was done, Mr. Stark asked her if she was hungry and she shrugged, not wanting to eat or leave this room or face any of it. She wanted to talk to May and Ben..more than anything she wanted to hear their voices. But the thought of asking again...of bugging the man that had helped her and who was apparently her boss? Or...mentor? Something.

So she followed him, surprised to realize that she could walk with no problem and that the pain was almost gone, into the elevator and then into a living space where he gestured for her to sit down on a sofa. "Is a sandwich okay?" He asked, not quite meeting her eyes.

"I can make it…" She stated, but Mr. Stark waved her off.

"Stay put, kid. Rest your leg." He seemed like he wanted to say something else...his eyes held something she couldn't quite identify. But in the end, he just gave her a brief smile then hurried into the other room.

"Hello, arachnid-child." Penny jumped at the voice, spinning around in her seat to find Loki...the Loki...Loki of Asgard, walking into the room, and her heart stuttered before breaking into a gallop. Loki was here...in Mr. Stark's tower. "Did you injure yourself on patrol again? That's twice this week." The man said carelessly, taking another step toward her, and that's when her mouth decided to start working again.

"Mr. Stark!" She all but screamed, scooting back on the sofa and shrinking into herself. "Mr. Stark! Help!" Loki's eyebrows flew upward as he watched her, and Mr. Stark came running, hand out, then dropped when he saw Loki. "Mr. Stark...it's Loki! He's…" The man sighed, dropping a hand on the back of the sofa behind her.

"It's alright, kid. He isn't going t hurt you." Mr. Stark assured her, glancing over at the Asgardian.

"Why would…" Loki started, but Mr. Stark waved a hand.

"Long story. Some kind of amnesia. Bruce is running tests." The billionaire smiled at Penny again, that same look as before, then headed back to the kitchen.

"Wait...Mr. Stark...don't...please, don't…"

"Don't worry, kid. You and the wonderful wizard over there are buddies."

"Buddies?" Penny whispered, looking over at Loki, wide-eyed and still fearful. The Asgardian had moved closer and she had to fight the urge to shrink away.

"In a sense." Loki murmured. "You prattle on and I pretend to listen." He reached out a hand and she flinched away. "Relax, child. I won't harm you."

"But you're…" What could she even say? He was Loki! He'd tried to literally kill everyone in New York! And they were buddies!? What did that even mean? Why had Mr. Stark left her with him?

"Yes, yes, we've established who I am." Loki waved her statement away. "We have already had this conversation, child. What I want to know is why you don't remember." And then he pressed a finger to her forehead and the scene in front of her changed.

There was her...on a rooftop. The same rooftop. In a suit. Fear. Confusion. Worry. Then Iron Man showing up. But then...a wall. There was a wall. And she stood against it, palms pressed to the bricks. Loki...Loki was there. He was standing beside her at the wall. "What's this?" He asked. She stared at him, not sure how he was there or even where they were. This didn't make sense. None of it made sense.

"I...I don't know." She whispered. He observed her for a moment, then nodded, pushing his palms against the wall and shoving. She felt it...felt the wall give, and heard herself scream at the pressure building in her skull.

And then she saw a lot of things. Things that rushed by, images flashing in front of her eyes. Herself standing in front of a full-length mirror, holding a hammer and wearing that suit. The one she was wearing now. She saw herself at an airport, swinging around on a web? That didn't make any sense! She saw herself standing next to Mr. Stark in a lab, him laughing at something. Smiling at her. His hand clasping her shoulder. She saw herself kneeling at a grave, staring at the ground, tears dripping down her cheeks and a man coming to sit beside her.

Loki. Loki was the one sitting beside her, kneeling in the dirt. Not speaking. Just...sitting.

Then everything seemed to blur, like a movie on fast forward. A girl in a beautiful dress smiling at her. Building Lego's with Ned who looked older but the same. MJ painting her nails. Then...Penny running. A man in a mask. A rooftop...a familiar rooftop. A knife disappearing into her leg, and her scream. Then something poking her in the neck...a needle. And a blow to her head...and then she was on the ground, staring up at the man with the mask. "No...no I don't want to….I don't want to forget. Please!" And then her words drifting away...the masked man leaving...and then...she felt her eyes roll back as her body slumped to the ground.

The next thing she knew was beeping. A soft, steady beep, and a dull throb in her head. "Pen? C'mon, honey. I'm going to kill Loki...I swear, kid, I don't care that he's your friend."

"Don' hur' Lo…" She murmured, words slurring. "Pls…"

"Alright, kiddie. I won't hurt him, but only if you open your eyes." He told her, a smile in his voice. She took a deep breath, then did as he asked, squinting up at him in the bright light. "Hey, Spiderling. You back?"

"Mhm." She nodded, trying to remember everything. A rooftop. A needle. And then...confusion. Pain. But Mr. Stark had been there. "He drugged me."

"Bingo. Turns out Hydra was testing some new drugs. They were trying to figure out how to wipe people's memories."

"My head hurts. What did Loki do?" She asked, rubbing a hand over her face, and he held out a hand, helping her sit up a little as he rolled his eyes.

"He got the bright idea to try and force through the drug in your system...he tried to explain it but it's all very stupid and magical." She smiled a little. "He said you should remember now, even though Bruce made you an antidote too. How do you feel."

"Normal. Well, my head hurts, but otherwise…"

"Yeah, he freaked out when you fainted on him. Tried to wake you up but apparently, your brain had some healing to do. I called May, and she's on her way." He sat down on the bed beside her and she scooted over, resting her head on his shoulder as he draped an arm around her.

There was a long pause before she spoke again, her voice barely a whisper. "I forgot that Uncle Ben was dead." He held her closer, rubbing an arm up and down her arm. "I forgot...I thought I'd get to see him." Her eyes heated up, a hand coming up to cover her mouth, and he pressed his lips to the top of her head.

"I'm know...I'm so sorry, kid." He murmured.

Then she closed her eyes, remembering. Remembering that day by the grave...her uncle's birthday. The day that Loki had followed her from the tower to the cemetery. The day she'd sobbed into her hands until Loki had sat down beside her and then, finally, called Mr. Stark to come too, and how the man had wrapped his arms around her just like he did now, rocking them back and forth.

How could she have forgotten? How could she have forgotten sparring with Steve when neither could sleep. Or Russian lessons with Clint and Natasha? Video games with Sam and Bucky? Or sitting by her uncle's grave on her birthday with Tony Stark and Loki and knowing that even though this was always going to hurt, she had a new family now?

Shuddering a little, she hid her face against Mr. Stark's side. She never wanted to forget again.


	9. Amputated

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing! Welcome to day 12! :D I'm very tired so I'm sorry if there are errors! I'm going to do my best to edit this.

****

Day 12: Amputated

Penny sat in the hallway, back to the wall, head resting on her knees. She was still shaking, fingers clenching and unclenching as she tried to get some control over her body which had gone from nothing to fully formed in a matter of seconds only an hour ago.

Doctor Strange had been the one to bring them home, her and the guardians all stepping through a portal as she'd tried to fill in the gaps. She'd been falling apart. Literally. Her body had been crumbling into dust and Mr. Stark had been holding her and telling her she was alright...and then she'd dropped to the ground, struggling to focus on the man hovering over her, his hand cushioning her head as if keeping her head from hitting the ground had mattered at that point.

"I'm sorry." She'd whispered. Because she knew that, no matter how untrue or ridiculous, he would blame himself for this. She had wanted to say other things as her body had fought to heal itself, spider senses screaming a warning that something was wrong. She'd wanted to say thank you. Thank you for everything you've done for me. She wanted to say that she would always have those moments in his lab and the way he laughed when she had spilled her ice cream cone on the sidewalk last summer. She would always have the time he'd taught her to change a tire.

She had wanted to say other things too. You're my hero. You're the closest thing I have to a father.

I love you.

But then everything had faded and she'd been plunged into darkness. She wasn't sure how long she'd been in the darkness because the next thing she'd known was being reformed and pain and terror as her organs had started working again, almost reluctantly. She'd lay on the sand and dirt of Titan and coughed and gasped for air, staring at the orange sky with tears sliding down her cheeks from the corner of her eyes.

"He did it." That's what Doctor Strange has said as the guy, Star Lord, had knelt beside her, holding a hand out.

"You alright, Parker?" She had wondered as she'd struggled to focus on him when he had learned her last name. Had Mr. Stark said it? That whole battle had been a blur, so it was possible. She had tried to not but her stomach had been rolling, nausea building, and so she'd closed her eyes, panting for air and trying to get a grip. Where was Mr. Stark? Was he okay? Who had done what? "Uh...hey, wizard? Is the 'doctor' part of your name just for fun, because I think the kid needs help."

Then other hands had been on her, two fingers against her throat where she'd assumed he had felt her racing pulse. "Spidergirl?" The wizard had promoted, a cool hand against her clammy forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"Where's Mr. Stark?" She has asked instead of answering, more tears falling from her eyes and down into the dust. If she could find Mr. Stark she would be fine. And May. And Ned. Were they okay?

"I am not sure. Whatever he did, he brought us back...the visions were blurry. But I am going to open a portal to the Avengers compound and we can all return to Earth." Strange explained patiently. She had just nodded, making no attempt to move.

The wizard had done as he'd promised, checking to make sure the compound was safe before leading them all through the portal, leaving Penny for last. She hadn't moved, so he had knelt beside her. "Bruce Banner asked me to inform you that Stark is still alive." He'd told her softly, reaching out a hand with a surprisingly gentle look on his face. "Can you stand up?" She gave a weak nod, sitting up and letting him put a hand behind her back, helping her sit up, then stand.

The two had stepped through the portal then, and she'd look around at the assembled people, stomach twisting as she'd tried to make sense of this. The guardians. Captain America and some of his rogue Avengers. Rhodey and Doctor Banner and Pepper. All staring at her until Doctor Bruce Banner had stepped forward. "Penny Parker?" He has asked, voice soft and hesitant, and it had taken a moment for her to answer, considering the fact that Bruce Banner, the Bruce Banner, knew her name. So she'd just nodded.

"Where's Mr. Stark?" She had asked, eyes straying over to Rhodey who had moved forward beside Doctor Banner.

"Come here, kid." The man had urged, reaching out an arm and steering her away from the others. As they walked, she spotted the Black Widow talking to a dark-skinned woman with a spear and a young woman who must have been the tech genius, Princess Shuri of Wakanda. She'd read about her on the internet. Penny had dropped her eyes, following him into a room off to the side where Pepper had joined them, closing the door behind her.

"What's going on?"

"Tony was hurt pretty bad...it's a long story but...he's in surgery. They think he's going to lose part of his left arm. But he's alive and he's going to be fine."

And then Penny had been walking. She wasn't sure where to. Just...walking. Quickly. Elbowing her way past the Black Widow and a man she was pretty sure was Hawkeye. She slipped between Hawkeye and the wall, then had hurried down the hallway toward her room.

She hadn't made it, though...which was how she'd found herself on the floor, curled up in a ball, brain struggling to take all of this in. She'd been dust. Then whole. On Ttitan. Now on Earth in the Avengers compound, surrounded by people she didn't really know. And Mr. Stark was in surgery. He might lose his arm?

Pepper found her after a while, hesitating in the hallway, then crouching beside her in stilettos that should have been impossible to crouch in. "Penny? Honey, why don't you come and get changed?" So she let the woman pull her to her feet, leading her into the elevator and then into the bedroom full of stuff that Mr. Stark had set up for her. Blindly, she accepted the jeans and red t-shirt that the woman pushed into her hands, going into the bathroom to change.

Taking the Iron Spider suit off wasn't too difficult once Friday walked her through it, and she left it in a pile on her bathroom floor, feeling spacey and strange. A little shaky. Her regular suit came off easily and she left it in a similar pile, stepping out into the bedroom after tying her hair back.

"Penny? Are you feeling okay?"

She felt bruised, inside and out. Rattled. Barely held together. Like she might fall back into dust at any moment. But that didn't matter. What mattered was Mr. Stark. "Is he okay?" She asked, sure that Pepper would understand.

"Yeah, honey. He'll be fine. His arm was damaged while he was using that...gauntlet. I...I don't know everything, but he's going to survive. They're trying to repair as much damage to his arm as they can." Penny stood in the middle of the room, almost numb. She needed to see him. Needed him to be okay. Needed to see her aunt, too. And Ned. She needed to see Ned.

Pepper, the woman she'd eaten breakfast with not so long ago, who had sat across from her and May at the dinner table on several occasions, touched a hand to her cheek. "Penny? Are you okay?"

"I don't know." The girl admitted, voice hoarse.

"Okay. How about we get you something to eat and maybe you can lay down?"

"Where's May?"

"Happy is on his way to get her. Most of the phone lines are still down…" She nodded, letting Pepper pull her to her feet once more, then led her back down the hallway and to the cafeteria that seemed to be buzzing with activity. After grabbing her a tray of food, someone grabbed Pepper and she promised the girl she'd be right back.

Penny stared down at her tray, then picked up the fork and took a bite of fruit...she wasn't sure what kind, and she couldn't taste much. After a few bites, someone sat across from her, and she looked up to find Steve Rogers across from her. He held up a hand when she started to put her fork down, smiling a little. "Please. Eat. You must be hungry."

She blinked again, then took another bite, not sure what he wanted from her. "Well, we've met before, but…". He held out a hand. "Steve Rogers."

She took it, not really having the energy to do more than shake it and drop her hand. "Penny." She muttered.

He nodded. "He's talked a lot about you. He would have done anything to get you back." She pressed her lips together, nodding a little. That sounded just like Mr. Stark. Of course, he'd do anything to get her back. He loved her. He was like her father and she loved him and now...now he was going to lose his hand and what if...what if he wasn't okay? What if he was angry with her or what if…

What if she wasn't worth it?

"Are you feeling alright?" The man asked, and Penny realized she had been staring at her plate for a long time. She didn't have enough energy to lie, so she shook her head.

"The others haven't come back yet...we know that everyone has been, uh...brought back. Bucky and Sam...they were, uh...they turned to dust, just like you." She flinched and he cleared his throat. "Um...they're on their way from Wakanda. They should be here soon." Penny nodded, staring back down at her food. She didn't know what to say...didn't know anything. She'd been dust and now she wasn't and Mr. Stark was in surgery. "Are you alright?" He asked again, leaning in.

"I'm sorry...I just…" She pushed her tray away, bracing herself on the table as she stood. "Excuse me." She murmured, and he started to stand too, but she was already heading back through the cafeteria and toward her bedroom where she shut the door firmly behind her, this time making it to the bed before sitting down, curling up in a ball on her side.

"Friday?" She asked.

Immediately, the AI answered. "Hello, Penny. It's good to see you again."

"You too, Fri." She murmured, smiling a little. "Is Mr. Stark okay?"

"Boss is still in surgery. The doctors are removing part of his left arm." She flinched, putting a hand over her eyes and taking a deep breath. There was no reason to cry...he was okay. He was going to be fine.

What if she wasn't worth it?

It was a selfish thought. Of course, he hadn't just done it for her. He'd done it for the whole world...not that she knew exactly what he'd done. Something about the gauntlet. The one Thanos had used to snap her out of existence. He had somehow used it and saved the universe and he was going to lose part of his arm and it wasn't her fault. But...but Steve had said he would have done anything to get her back.

She lay on her bed for a long time, staring at the ceiling and trying to breathe normally...trying to remember what normal was. Her aunt was coming. Mr. Stark was in surgery. But she needed to see him...both of them. She needed...to do something. She couldn't sleep. Couldn't eat. She had to do something.

No one interrupted her on the way to his lab, not that she ran into anyone. She knew all the back ways, and Friday locked the elevator when she was on her way down. Her hands shook, but she had to do something. "Friday, can you show me how much of Mr. Stark's arm they had to remove?"

"Of course, Penny." One of the monitors came to life with an image of an arm that ended abruptly halfway between the elbow and the wrist. "It seems as if he will be out of surgery in roughly two hours, but is still under anesthesia and may not wake up for several more hours."

"Okay." She murmured, wiping a hand over her face.

"If I may, Penny, he will be very happy to see you. He has missed you." She wiped her eyes again.

"Thanks, Fri." She all but whispered, swallowing hard, then pulled out a tablet and began to draw.

She was able to work for almost an hour straight before Friday spoke again. "Penny, Princess Shuri of Wakanda is requesting entry. She would like to speak to you." Penny didn't even look up from the tablet where she was working, sketching furiously and making adjustments, doing her best to focus through the haze that seemed to have settled over her.

"Sure. Can you get started on Prototype 1.0? Let's see what we've got so far."

"Of course."

Penny put the tablet down, spinning in her chair. Mr. Stark's chair. She'd been dust and now she wasn't. Now she was working. She had to keep working. If she could fix this...she had to fix this. She could do something. So she looked back down at the tablet, tweaking and readjusting for prototype 1.2 until the princess of Wakanda stepped into the room, looking around before her eyes landed on Penny.

"It's nice to meet you, Princess." Penny greeted, placing the stylus on the table and standing, not sure if she should bow. She kept on hand on the table to keep herself upright...her body was screaming for sleep, but she had to keep working. She had to make this better.

"Shuri." The girl introduced herself, holding out a hand that Penny took.

"Penny." She told the girl with a smile. "It's nice to meet you."

"You too...but you should be resting." She told her, glancing around the lab once more, eyes landing on the prototype. "Is that…"

"Yeah." Penny nodded, getting defensive. The princess didn't say anything for a moment, watching the clear box where the prototype was being built, piece by piece, by Friday. "It's just...it's a prototype. The first one. I've never done anything like this before but I had to…"

Shuri nodded as Penny trailed off. "I have." Penny's eyebrows shot up, and she lowered herself down into Mr. Stark's chair, too tired to stand anymore.

"Will...I mean...would you mind taking a look?"

"Stark saved the world. This is the least I can do." Shur looked her over, lips pressed in a tight line. "But you need to eat something. And rest." Penny shook her head.

"Not until it's done."

Shuri crossed her arms, lips twitching. "You're as stubborn as he is." She said softly, then moved over to the mini fridge in the corner, grabbing a soda and a granola bar. "Eat. And pass me that." Penny smiled a little, pushing the tablet over and then taking a bite of the granola bar, practically inhaling it before downing the soda.

They worked for another hour together, which was right about the time that Friday informed Penny that her aunt had arrived and wanted to see her. Penny asked her to bring the woman down, then stared at Prototype 2.3 as it came together. "Would you like to stick with silver?" Friday asked, and Penny grinned a little.

"Throw in some red." She murmured, knowing that Friday would know what to do. Shuri grinned at her, holding up a fist that Penny tapped her own against, laughing and feeling the room spin. She'd been awake for what felt like days, even though it had only been a few hours since she'd been...brought back to life? She was dizzy and exhausted, but she had to finish.

Then her aunt was there. May. May was wrapping her arms around her and holding her up and Penny was crying, holding her aunt probably too tight but she didn't care. She just wanted May and Mr. Stark and she wanted this whole thing to have never happened. She wanted to be back on a school but on a field trip to the Museum of Modern Art with plans to meet Mr. Stark after school for their weekly lab time. "May...May, I...I'm sorry. I'm sorry I...I should have stayed on the bus but…"

"No," May whispered, cupping Penny's face in her hands, resting her forehead against her niece's. "No, baby. None of this was your fault. You were so brave. Tony told me...wouldn't stop telling me." She smiled through her tears, pushing some of Penny's hair back. "He kept going on about how amazing you were...you're an Avenger."

Penny didn't want to be an Avenger anymore. Not if this was what being an Avenger meant. But it was too late. She slumped against May, head on the woman's shoulder, and May rubbed circles on her back. "You're exhausted, baby. Have you slept at all?" Penny shook her head.

"No...I need to see him. Can I...can I see him yet?" She hesitated, then nodded.

"Yes. He's not awake yet but Pepper told me to tell you that you could visit."

Penny didn't remember much of being walked up to Mr. Stark's hospital bed, or even sitting down on the bed beside him, eyes drawn to the bandages on his left arm. Everything was kind of a blur, but the next thing she knew, a shaking hand was stroking her hair. She mumbled something under her breath, waving a lazy, exhausted hand at the person touching her, and she heard a soft chuckle. A very familiar chuckle.

"Mr. Stark? I'm sorry to bother you." A voice she knew spoke quietly.

"Hello, Princess." A scratchy voice responded, the hand resting on her hair.

"It's just Shuri, Mr. Stark."

"Then it's just Tony." He said in a voice that suggested that they'd had this conversation more than once. Penny wondered if this was a dream. She fought a yawn, shifting a little and wondering why she had a sore neck.

"Penny and I were working on something." Something landed on the bed beside Penny...was she lying down, she wondered. No...it didn't feel like it. "Well, she did most of the work, but I helped. And...well, we wanted you to take a look and if you agreed...well, it may be best for Penny to show you." The girl spoke softly, and Penny shifted a little once more.

"Well, she'd have to wake up for that to happen."

"She hasn't slept since she returned. The wizard brought her...she has barely eaten or drank anything since. She went almost directly to the lab to start working. I wonder if you might be related."

There was a deep chuckle. A hand squeezing the back of her neck. And she opened her eyes, blinking and then looking up, barely able to believe it.

Mr. Stark. It was Mr. Stark. She made a strangled noise, jumping to her feet and practically launching herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and sobbing into his shoulder. He wrapped his good arm around her, holding her close, but flinched when she squeezed him too tightly. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry did…"

"Easy, kiddo. It's alright." He pulled back just a little, cupping her cheek in his right hand. "I...I can't believe it. I can't believe I got you back." He whispered, eyes wet, lips trembling. "I thought you were gone, kiddo. Thought I'd lost you for good." She shook her head.

"Can't get rid of me that easy." He snorted, pulling her close again, and this time, she hugged him more gently.

There was a soft noise behind them and she turned to find the princess in the doorway, a slight smile on her lips. "I hate to interrupt, but Prototype 2.3 is finished. I thought you might like to show him."

For a moment, Penny wanted to shake her head. Nothing she could do would ever be as good as his work. Why had she thought she could make something like this? But Mr. Stark moved his hand to her shoulder, squeezing. "Yeah, kiddo, I want to see what you've been working on." He ran his hand down her arm, pausing at her elbow and squeezing again as if he couldn't bring himself to let go. She didn't mind, just stayed where she was as Shuri handed her the box, putting it in Penny's lap.

"It's just a prototype," Penny warned, feeling sheepish. He rubbed his thumb over her arm, seeming to just be drinking her in. As if he still couldn't believe it. She didn't blame him. "It's nowhere near as good as what you can do, and...I'm sorry...it's not good enough."

"Kid." The man murmured, leaning in as best he could considering the IV and the nasal cannula. "Just show me." He urged, still smiling.

"Okay." She held the box tightly, then scooted over to the side, placing it in his lap. "It's...it's just a prototype."

"So you said."

"And...Shuri did most of the work…"

"Not true. At all." Shuri snorted, leaning against the wall.

"And I'm sure you'll hate the color but...but we can change it or make it better but…" Sighing, he reached out with his hand, finally letting her go, and pulled open the lid on the box, freezing in place when he caught sight of it. "I'm sorry...I...I shouldn't have...Mr. Stark, I…"

The man reached out, grabbing her before she could go. "Kid…" He whispered. "It's perfect."

"It needs improvements but I only had a couple of hours and…"

"Penny. This is perfect." He reiterated, tugging her close so that he could hug her again, nearly knocking the box off the bed. "Kid...it's amazing." He wrapped his arm around her as tightly as he could, and she buried her face in his shoulder, taking a deep breath. Trying to memorize this moment. Because if she had to disappear again...if this was all somehow a dream, she never, ever wanted to forget this. "I love you, kiddo. So much. I'm sorry I never said it before. I'm...I'm sorry I couldn't stop him." She shook her head, gripping the back of his hospital gown in her fists.

"I love you too. You're..." She swallowed, mouth suddenly dry as she held him tighter. "You're like my dad and I..." Penny broke off, a sob escaping, and Mr. Stark rocked them back and forth, holding her in his arms and stroking her back.

She stayed for a long time, until they both fell asleep, neither letting go of the other.

A month later, Penny sat in the Avenger's compound living room next to Steve and Bucky, the three of them glued to the huge TV mounted on the wall. On the screen was a stage. A podium. And then, Mr. Stark, walking with just a hint of a limp as he approached the podium, and all of the reporters in the room jumped to their feet, cameras flashing. In the front of the room, Mr. Stark lifted a red and gold hand, removing his sunglasses and grinning at the cameras.

The world was safe. The Avengers were back together. And Penny got a third chance at having a father.

Everything was perfect.


	10. Anger

**Prompt from Tumblr: what about something where Penny and Loki are really close (like that one post about Peter telling which level of anger Loki is on) and one day someone a villain of something hurts her real bad and Loki goes up to like a 20 and "hurts" them? If not that's totally fine!**

**Yes! I love it! Here is day 13! I can't promise that day 14 will happen, as it is kind of difficult to write one of these every day, but it's possible :)**

Day 13: Anger

Penny crouched on her toes, staring down at the city below. Beside her, Loki heaved a sigh, and she fought a smile. "You didn't have to come." She reminded him. He took a bite of his sandwich, rolling his eyes.

"Stark is out of town, and children must be supervised."

"I'm not a child. I'm sixteen!"

"That is the definition of a child."

"Is not!" She cried, flinching at how winey her voice came out, then flopped to the ground, pulling her mask off and glaring at him. He only smirked, taking another bite. "Besides, Mr. Stark doesn't supervise me when I go on patrols."

"Do you honestly think he doesn't have monitors up tracking your every move every single time you go on your patrols, child?" Loki asked, and she groaned, rolling her eyes again. "It was getting stuffy in that tower anyway. I could use a tour of the city you are so fond of." She smiled at that, sitting up and leaning forward.

"Really?"

"Yes, I suppose." He swallowed the last bite of his sandwich, wiping his hands on a napkin that he started to toss away, but she caught it with a web.

"Hey! Litterbug!"

"Beg your pardon?"

"You can't just throw your trash on the ground! It's littering." He stared at her. "It's illegal." He lifted an eyebrow and she huffed. "It's bad. Don't do it."

"Fine." He grumbled, and she jumped up, holding out a hand that he ignored, pulling himself to his feet.

It was a rare occasion when both her aunt and Mr. Stark were out of town...May with Happy on a cruise and Mr. Stark on a last minute business trip that he promised would only take one night. He would be on his way home that evening and be back by the next morning. In the meantime, she was staying at the tower with Rhodey and Pepper. And she may have snuck out to go on patrols. But she had to! Loki, however, had caught her and insisted on tagging along, appearing on the rooftop beside her and requesting a sandwich.

"So. This is Queens!" She waved a hand toward the less than impressive view from the squat office building they were on. "I need to stop by my apartment and grab something. You coming?"

"I suppose."

"You know, you don't have to babysit." She reminded him, but he ignored her, gesturing for her to lead the way. "Wait...how are you going to get there?" Usually when they went anywhere, they were dressed in their normal clothes, and she couldn't exactly waltz into her apartment wearing her spider suit. He gave her a long look, then sighed.

"Get us to the ground." He ordered, putting an arm around her and hanging on as she shot a web, lowering them gently to the ground. When they reached it, he stepped back, then waved a hand over her. To her surprise, she was no longer in her suit, but in a jacket and a pair of jeans, neither of which felt familiar.

"Did you...just change my clothes?" She asked, following him out of the alley and over to a motorcycle that she was almost certain was Steve's.

"I changed what other people would see when they looked at you." He clarified. "You are still wearing your suit, but now it appears as though you are wearing normal human clothes."

"Right…" She muttered when he climbed onto the motorcycle. "Is that...isn't that Steve's bike?"

"Yes, well, if Captain Freedom didn't want me to borrow it, he should not have left his keys where I could find them."

"Which was?" She asked, climbing on behind him and holding on tight.

"On his bedside table." She snorted as he started the motorcycle, speeding out into traffic and navigating through the streets of Queens as she shouted directions into his ear. Finally, they reached her building, her hurrying upstairs and into her apartment, Loki following behind at an almost leisurely pace. She left him behind, leaving her apartment door open and running to her bedroom, more than ready to get going on her patrols.

Dropping to her knees, she pushed a few textbooks aside and started rooting around under her bed. Not too much later, she heard footsteps and glanced over from her spot on the floor to find Loki's familiar boots.

"Hey! This is my room. Ned and I were working on this LEGO sculpture of an X-Wing.. a...uh...a spaceship from Star Wars. Have you ever seen Star Wars?" She asked, gesturing in the direction of the LEGO spaceship.

"No."

"Really! When we get back to the tower, we can watch it! It's so good! We can start with A New Hope...the old ones are so much better but the newest ones aren't bad. I mean, pretty much everyone agrees that The Phantom Menace sucks but I didn't hate it that much. I watched it when I was really little...but the old ones are better. Anyway, uh...that's my computer, and May's room is through there."

""Gotcha." She murmured, then held it out to Loki. "Can you put this in my room at the tower?"

"I'm not going back to the tower." He informed her patiently, and she sighed, taking the hand he held out to pull herself back to her feet.

"But I'm going to be swinging around and stopping crime. How are you going to keep up?" He smirked.

"Somehow, I shall manage."

It turned out, Loki had decided that the best, most discreet option for keeping an eye on her would be to ride Steve's motorcycle around Queens while she patrolled, somehow always finding her whenever she stopped to deal with criminals. He'd managed to remove whatever illusion he'd placed over her suit with a snap of his fingers, and then they had headed back out, her through the window, him taking the stairs.

She didn't really mind. Loki tended to get...mischievous when left to his own devices for too long, so she'd sort of taken it upon herself to distract him when he seemed to be feeling antsy. It had started when she'd caught him eyeing the kitchen knives one morning after Clint had made a remark about Aliens and scepters. She really liked Clint but had the feeling that he and Loki would never exactly be friends. So she'd dragged Loki down to her section of the lab to show him how her webshooters worked, and then had demonstrated them while hanging upside down. He'd seemed more or less amused, so she'd counted it as a success.

So far, various distraction methods had involved asking him for help with her homework, baking bread for the first time together, and a trip to the zoo (his favorite had been the snakes.) Other times, they'd just sit in the same room, reading or watching whatever was on TV. He rarely sought her out but didn't seem bothered by her presence, so she figured that maybe she was helping.

Patrols were kind of busy that day. She stopped two mugging, a guy trying to steal a bike, a woman trying to break into someone's apartment, and a shoplifter, all while Loki leaned on various walls in the background, usually arriving a few seconds after her and dismounting from the bike, never interfering. Just watching.

Then her senses went off.

She'd just stopped her third mugging, easily taking the guy down and webbing him to the wall. "Are you just going to watch me all night?" Penny asked, crossing her arms and lifting an eyebrow behind the mask

"Your curfew is 11, so no. Also, dinner starts at 6:30 according to the Captain."

"Oh, Steve's cooking!" She grinned, bouncing a little on her toes. "What time is it?"

"Nearly 5:30."

"Good. We've got plenty of time! Karen, scan the area?" Her senses were going off...nothing too bad, but something. Something was happening.

"There seems to be no criminal activity at this…"

Then the gun went off.

Penny gasped, more surprised at the noise than anything. She glanced up at Loki, frowning at the look on his face...stunned and slowly losing color.

"the Vulture sends his regards." Someone shouted, but she couldn't make her feet move. The Vulture!? That had been nearly 2 years ago. Why was someone asking about the Vulture? There were squealing tires and she turned to stare at the place where the man had been, then at Loki.

"Wha…" But then she felt it. Pain. Penny's side throbbed and she put a hand to the place where it hurt the most. "Oh…I think..." Her legs crumbled, and she would have landed on her knees had the Asgardian not caught her, hands on her arms. "Loki?"

"Be quiet." He ordered, voice a little shaky as he lowered her to the ground, carefully turning her so that she was sitting down. The Asgardian brushed her hands away, leaning her back against the wall he'd been leaning against just a moment ago. She whimpered when he ripped the side of her suit even further, revealing a bullet wound. "Where is your phone?"

"It's...here…" She gasped out, reaching into a pocket sewn into her suit and pulling it out. "Here."

"Press down on this." He demanded, grabbing her hand and pressing it to her side, then snatching the phone. She tried, but she was tired all of a sudden. Eyes starting to close, he let her head fall back against the wall. "Child! Press down!"

"I'm...I'm sorry…" She could barely say the words, struggling to breathe around the pain as he touched the phone screen.

"Rogers? We…" She heard Steve say something about a motorcycle but Loki cut him off, voice soft and fierce. "Shut up! Spidergirl is down and needs assistance right now."

She shivered, feeling suddenly cold, and she reached out for him, fingers grasping at his arm. Without a word to her, he turned his hand over, intertwining his fingers with hers, giving her a reassuring squeeze. He was cold, though, and with a sudden fierceness, she wanted Mr. Stark. Her aunt. But she had Loki...he would help her. "What happened?"

"She was shot. We need a car. Now!"

And then Loki was sitting beside her, pressing hard against the wound on her side, ignoring her whimpers. "You are going to be fine, Spider child." He assured her. Her stomach hurt. She was cold and tired and her stomach hurt. But she couldn't get herself to say those words. Besides, it wasn't like he could help. "Rogers will get you to the medical bay and Banner will fix you...you have that strange healing ability, yes?"

"Uh huh." She nodded, a tear running down her cheek under the mask. She sniffed, trying not to cry, but he reached out, pulling the mask off, then freezing as he met her wet eyes with his own wide ones.

"They should be here in ten minutes...Rogers drives faster than Stark." He continued speaking then, voice a little strained. She blinked heavily, then didn't open her eyes, jerking forward when he pulled her away from the wall to lean against him. "Stay awake. You cannot sleep." She let out a long, painful whine, lips trembling as she fought the tears, but then he was pulling her head over to rest on his shoulder, arm wrapped around her and holding the piece of cloth that looked like it had come from his own shirt against her side.

"It hurts...Loki…"

"It's alright, child." He murmured.

"I'm sorry...I can't…" She pressed a weak hand to her mouth, sobbing into her palm and trying to keep quiet. "Loki…make it stop. Please."

"You're going to be fine, Penny." Turning her face into his shoulder, she tried to muffle her sobs in his jacket, and he turned fully, one hand holding the cloth to her side, the other rubbing circles into her back.

Steve did arrive less than ten minutes later, him and Sam carefully moving her to the back of a car where Sam stayed with her, keeping steady pressure on her side. She lost track of Loki, and then she lost the battle with consciousness.

When she woke, she was in the medbay, a low, steady beeping too close to her ear. She started to move, then froze when her side gave a throb of protest. "You were very lucky, apparently." The soft voice surprised her, and she turned, just her head, eyebrows lifting when she spotted Loki. He was sitting beside her in a metal chair, not looking at her...eyes staring into the distance. "The bullet missed almost all of your major organs. The one it managed to puncture healed in time. Banner did surgery on you, removed the bullet, et cetera." Loki swallowed, blinking a few times before turning to face her. "Stark is on his way back from whatever business meeting he was attending. He was quite worried until Banner informed him that you would make a full recovery."

She started to sit up again but couldn't manage, dropping back down onto the pillow with a groan. "Also, you should limit all movement for at least a few hours. I couldn't say how your strange healing works, but it seems to be working in your favor. Rather quickly, I might add." He grabbed a glass of water from the short, white table beside her, passing it to her, and she tried to take it, but her hand shook too much. With a soft sigh, he stood, guiding the straw to her lips with hands covered in dried blood.

She took a long drink, then lowered her head back to the pillow. "Banner will be by to check on you shortly."

"Thanks." She rasped. "For getting Steve...if you hadn't been there…"

"That man will not be bothering you ever again."

She blinked, frowning. "What? Which man?"

"The man that shot you. He was sent by that...Vulture person." Loki waved a hand. "I was not able to reach him, but Stark assured me that the Vulture will not be escaping from his prison any time soon."

"Loki…" She faltered for a moment, blinking away the haze she seemed to find herself in. "Did you...did you kill him?"

"Yes." He told her without an ounce of hesitation. "Along with several members of the organization he worked with." She felt her stomach twist and she started to shake her head, but he went on. "And were I to gain access to the person who sent him, I would kill him as well."

"Loki, you…" She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, but her voice broke anyway. "You shouldn't have done that." He'd killed someone for her. Actually killed them. More than one someone. For her. Someone was dead because of her. 

"He attempted to kill you." He hissed, and she knew that he'd look angry. He'd never been angry with her before. 

"You can't just kill people…"

"I most certainly can, especially when they attempt to kill the humans that I…" He cut himself off and she opened her eyes, finding that he was no longer looking at her, but the ground right in front of her hospital bed. And suddenly she knew why he'd done it...knew that he saw her in the same way that she had come to see him. As a friend. As family. 

She would do anything for her family.

 

And he would do anything for his. 

 

"I have killed for a lot less," Loki informed her, voice strangely detached. "This time, at least, it was justified. That man attempted to kill a child he did not know for money."

The man started to stand then, still not looking at her, but she reached out for him, fingers barely managing to brush against his. It got his attention. He turned, lifting an eyebrow, and she tried for a smile. "Stay? Please?"

He sat back down, barely hesitating, and allowed her to keep his hand in hers. "You didn't have to do that...will you get in trouble?" She gave a careless shrug.

"I believe, in this instance, that Stark will speak for me, as will my brother."

"I will too." She murmured. He lifted an eyebrow. "I mean, I doubt it would count for much but...you saved me. Thank you."

"There is no need to thank me, child."

She knew better than to push any harder, so she just smiled, letting the silence win out for a few moments. "Hey, Loki?"

"Yes?"

"Since I'm stuck here for a while...do you want to watch Star Wars with me?"

He heaved a long, put upon sigh, but the corner of his mouth twitched into an almost smile. "I suppose."


	11. Car Crash

**Day 16: Car Crash**

Everything smelled like gasoline. Burning...and a strange, dusty smell that Tony realized was from a deployed airbag. He opened his eyes slowly, looking around as best he could without moving. He knew better than to move just yet. He'd been in this exact situation plenty of times. It always sucked, but at least he was conscious. He also knew that the smell of airbag would never come out of his car. If he looked straight ahead, he could see the window...well, what had been a window. Now it was jagged glass and a green hill and...and he was looking to his right.

There was no steering wheel in front of him.

He was in the passenger seat.

Throwing caution and worry about moving out the metaphorical window, he turned his head, moving too quickly, probably, and felt his stomach clench, horror clogging his throat.

Penny. Penny had been driving?

Why had Penny been driving?

He couldn't remember but the girl was slumped forward, head against the steering wheel, blood dripping down her temple. He coughed, flinching when he went to raise a hand. His chest hurt. But that could wait. The teenager beside him wasn't moving. Didn't open her eyes or even seem to breathe. And he couldn't tell if the ringing in his ears as real or just in his head.

No. Not ringing.

Beeping. A horn. It was a horn. The horn of the car.

Reaching out again, taking a deep breath to make sure he could, he touched her hair, carefully finding her throat and pressing two fingers there, trying to find her heartbeat. He held his fingers there for a few terrifying seconds, taking a breath only when he finally found her pulse. "Okay...okay." He murmured. She was alive. He struggled to sit up against the seatbelt, flinching when it pressed against his chest. It wasn't a heart attack...maybe some broken ribs. Either way, he'd be fine. He just needed to check on his kid.

"Pen? Penny?" He asked, but she didn't move. He wanted to move her...but he was afraid that he'd aggravate an injury. Carefully, he removed his seatbelt, then reached over to unbuckle hers. The airbag had deflated by this point, and he wondered how long he'd been out. How long they'd been sitting there. He brought a hand up to his head, frowning at the blood on his hand when he held it up in front of his face. He'd hit his head on the window. Apparently, that had been what shattered it.

He managed to get his door open, stumbling to his feet and using the car door to keep himself upright. His leg hurt, and when he looked down he found blood soaking his sweatpants. Sweatpants? He shook that thought away. He'd have to figure that out later. Limping around the car, he surveyed the area through the smoke, practically choking on the smell of burning and smoke. It was dark. And the driver's side door of his newest Audi had been caved in, the metal crumpled like a ball of paper. He scanned the area, then saw it. A truck. Front end, caved in. The driver sitting on the ground, head resting against a tree. The man didn't look up, but Tony could guess what had happened.

He'd run the stop sign a few hundred feet away.

Tony dug his phone out of his pocket as he tried the door handle. No luck. He'd need his suit to pull the door off. But he didn't know if he had time. And he couldn't let her go to a hospital where they'd find out who she really was. Dialing the phone, he held it up to his ear, he waited. It only rang once. "Stark?"

"Cap, I need your help. Now."

A brief silence. "I'm on my way. FRIDAY can send me your location. What happened?"

"Bring Sam and Bruce. It's Penny...she…" He swallowed hard, forcing his voice to come out even. She was alive. "She's hurt. There was a car accident and…" His voice broke then, and he coughed, moving around to the passenger's side again, climbing back into his ruined car. She hadn't moved. The horn was still going off, the droning, constant sound hurting his head, but he couldn't risk moving her. "I'm afraid to move her." He admitted.

"Okay. We're on our way. We'll bring the jet...we'll be right there. Is she breathing."

"She has a pulse," Tony told him, resting a hand on her shoulder. His fingers circled gently around her arm, a thumb rubbing back and forth. "I...just hurry."

"We're on our way. Are you hurt?" Tony ended the call. What the hell did that matter? Hitting a button on the side, he held the phone up. "Fri, call an ambulance for that guy. Let them know that I was involved in a crash but that I'm headed back to the Avengers Compound." Then he turned back to the girl. "Penny?" He asked, voice soft. Coaxing. "Penny, c'mon, kid."

Things were coming back. She was afraid to drive...especially after what had happened on her homecoming night. And she'd been spending the weekend at the compound because...May. May was on a trip. Out of town.

"Kid? Open your eyes. Come on." He begged. "Friday, how's her spine? Can I sit her up?"

"I am having difficulty scanning, but it seems as though there is no risk to moving her if you are careful." Shoving his phone back in his pocket, Tony shifted closer. Pressing a hand against her forehead, he stabilized the back of her neck, then gently lifted her away from the steering wheel by her shoulder. Moving slow, he eased her back against the seat, propping her head against the headrest. "Alright, kid. We're going to get you out of here soon. Just hang tight." He murmured. He couldn't lift her. Couldn't pull her out...he had to wait.

She had been afraid to drive, especially at night. May had been trying to help, driving with her in parking lots whenever she could, but she was busy working long hours and refusing Tony's many offers to help. So he'd offered to take Penny for the weekend when May and Happy had planned a little getaway. Penny hadn't yet commented on her aunt's new relationship with Tony's head of security, and Tony hadn't asked. Still, he'd found her that evening in his lab, half-heartedly tinkering with her webshooters.

"The jet's gonna be here soon, kid. Just a few minutes...it won't be long now. You're gonna wake up in the medbay and everything is going to be fine. You won't even remember…" He hoped she wouldn't remember...hoped she wouldn't have to deal with this new fear on top of everything.

Fate was never kind to him. To either of them.

He had given her a long look, remembering a conversation with May. "She doesn't really need to learn to drive. I mean, public transportation is fine and I doubt she'll be able to afford a car for a long time but…" May had shrugged, rubbing a hand over her eyes as she'd glanced at her phone, already running late. She'd been dropping Penny off and was supposed to meet Happy in about an hour. "I just hate for her to be afraid."

Then the woman had been off with his assurance that he would look after her niece. And that evening had found him leaning in the doorway of his lab, watching her work for a moment before he'd stepped fully into the room. "Hey, kid?"

"Hm?" She'd lifted her head, putting the webshooters down.

"Come on." He'd jerked his head, a small smile turning the corner of his mouth, and she'd hopped up.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

The girl groaned, eyebrows furrowing as she started to move. He scooted as close as he could get, putting a restraining hand on her arm. "Woah, Pen. Stay still." He urged. She whimpered then, jaw tight. He put another hand on her arm, trying to hold her still against the seat. "Penny? Can you hear me?"

"Mssr...Msr...St…" She started, but he hurried to shush her.

"It's okay, kiddo. Don't talk just yet. You rest. We're going to get you to the compound. Cap is on his way. He's going to get you out of this car."

"Wh...where…"

"We got into a car crash, Penny." He explained, voice soft. Soothing. He usually didn't do soothing, but for her, he'd do his best. "Just try and stay still." She opened her eyes then, lips trembling. "Don't cry, kiddo. You're okay. We're going to get you out of here. Just waiting on Steve. He'll be here soon. I can hear the jet."

He had let her to the garage, then gestured for her to get into his newest car, climbing into the driver's seat, then pulling onto the road. She hadn't asked where they were going again...just sat and listened to his music and rested her head against the window, a small smile on her face. She'd looked content. Happy. And he'd thought in that moment that this girl might not be his actual daughter but she might as well have been. He loved her. And he'd wanted to help her.

So, miles away from the city, he'd pulled over, and she'd looked over, lifting an eyebrow. "So...is this the part where you kill me and ditch my body in the middle of nowhere?" He'd chuckled.

"Come on." He'd hopped out of the car, and she'd followed suit, the bemusement on her face a testament to her faith in him. It had made his heart clench, his whole body going warm. This girl would follow him anywhere. She trusted him. Maybe...maybe she even loved him. "Get in." He'd gestured to the driver's side door, watching with a growing sadness as she had clenched her jaw, taking a step back and showing hesitation for the first time.

"Mr. Stark...I don't want to…"

"We're in the middle of nowhere, kid. You'll be fine."

"But this is your new car."

"I trust you with my new car, kid. And my life." He'd climbed into the passenger's seat, relaxing and waiting for her to follow suit. Eventually, she had. She'd put on her seat belt, rested her hands on the wheel, then turned to look at him, pitiful and terrified.

"You're okay, Pen. Just put it in drive and go. There's no one around, and we're in the middle of nowhere."

And so, after a long moment of silence, she had. And for a few minutes, everything had been fine. Or so he had to assume. The last thing he remembered was sitting in the passenger's seat and giving her pointers on her driving.

His chest hurt, and he wanted to close his eyes...rest his head on the seat and wait for Cap to show up. But he couldn't sleep. Couldn't risk it. Hs chest hurt and he had to keep an eye on the girl who was barely able to keep her own eyes open. "Penny?"

"Mhm."

"Stay awake." He urged, squeezing her shoulder. "Just for a little while longer." She was trying, blinking blearily at him, eyes barely focusing.

The jet touched down in the middle of the field beside them, Cap jumping out immediately, followed by Sam, Bruce, and Clint, all of whom hurried to the driver's side door, Cap grabbing the handle and pulling. Penny would have been able to do it...she was crazy strong.

"Penny? You with us, kid?" Sam asked, kneeling on the ground beside the car, two fingers pressed to her throat. Steve came around to Tony's side, holding out a hand and pulling him out. Brushing him off, Tony hurried around to the other side once more, limping thanks to his bum leg. He pressed a weak hand to his chest, struggling to take another deep breath.

"Tony? Your leg…" He shook his head.

"Kid first." He insisted.

"What happened?"

"That asshole t-boned us." He jerked his head at the man on the ground a few feet away from them.

"Is he okay?"

"He's still breathing." Tony had a sneaking suspicion that he was drunk, but honestly, it was better for everyone if he didn't find out for sure. He didn't trust himself not to do something rash were that the case.

"Okay...you called someone for him?"

"Yep." Sam and Bruce were easing the girl onto a stretcher held steady by Clint, Sam careful to keep her head still, and then they were moving back toward the jet, Tony limping after them. "Bruce?"

"She's going to be okay. Her right arm is broken, and she has some broken ribs...I'll get a full scan when we get her back to the compound. But for now, she's stable."

Tony nodded, climbing after them into the jet, then dropping down on a chair. "Okay." He murmured, letting his head fall back against the back wall. Sam crouched in front of him, carefully moving the flayed leg of his sweatpants aside to get a look at the source of the blood. "Not too bad." He assured Tony. "Looks like a piece of metal cut you. You hurt anywhere else."

"Think I might have broken a rib." Sam frowned, standing and gingerly lifting his shirt then froze.

"Uh…" Tony forced his eyes open, then frowned down at his chest. There was a handprint...a dark bruise shaped like a small hand right in the middle of his chest. "Shit…" Sam muttered.

"That explains why my chest hurts." She'd thrown an arm out...pressing him against his seat. Her first instinct had been to protect him. Even during a car crash.

They were able to reset her arm, and just like he'd predicted, the girl had fallen asleep and woke up in the medbay, her first words making sure he was okay.

"Yeah, kiddo. I'm okay." She smiled a little, blinking and turning her head to face him.

"Mr. Stark? Do I still have to learn how to drive?"

"Nope. I'm hiring you a full-time driver. Maybe Happy will take the job."


	12. Damaged

**Day 17: Damaged**

When Penny's dad had told her that he wanted her to talk to someone with him, she had assumed that meant he would talk to someone, and that she would be there. She had expected a meeting or something, where her dad would talk and maybe the other grown-up would ask how she was or how school was and then it would be back to grown-up talk.

She'd heard him and Pepper talking softly in the kitchen that morning, using words she couldn't quite make out, although she was able to catch a few.

Trauma.

Damage.

They were scary words, ones the eleven-year-old wanted nothing to do with. She didn't want to be damaged...didn't want her dad to see her as a problem...as someone who was broken.

The place that Penny's dad took her to a week after Christmas, after ice skating and Chinese food and movies had all happened, and after she and Thor had finished building her dads tower with LEGOs, was a small office building in a part of town she'd never been to. She sat in the back of his car, staring out the window at the strange buildings while Happy and her dad talked softly, mostly about Happy waiting with the car or driving around and maybe how they'd get lunch later.

It was a Saturday and school was starting up again that Thursday after New Years, which meant she and Ned could have a sleepover at his place on Monday. They had been texting each other about it all week.

Her dad pulled into the parking lot, and Happy opened her door for her, letting her hop out of the back seat. The man had been pretty quiet, but he smiled at her as she took her dads offered hand, trotting along behind him.

"So we're going to Doctor Hudson, but if you don't walk to talk about something you don't have to." He told her as they headed up the stairs into the building.

"Why does she want to talk to me?" Penny asked, skeptical. Grown-ups didn't usually want to talk to her unless they were her dad's friends, which was fine with her. The Avengers were nice and everything, but most adults were boring.

"It's her job. She's a therapist." Penny frowned. She sort of knew that word, but not in any real sense.

"Why do you want to talk to her?" They stepped inside the building and into a waiting room at the doctor's office. There were brightly colored magazines and books and a few toys in a box on the ground. "Am I sick?" She asked with a sinking feeling in her stomach, looking up at him with wide, scared eyes, and immediately he shook his head.

"No, baby. You aren't sick. Sometimes people talk to therapists when something bad happens or…". He trailed off, squeezing her hand and leading her over to the front desk where a smiling woman waited. "I talk to a therapist. He's really nice. And it's nice to be able to talk to someone. I thought maybe you'd like it."

"Okay." She whispered, head down as her dad signed them in just like when they went to a regular doctor. Then he led her over to a chair in the empty waiting room, her curling up in the seat beside him.

"Do you want to read a magazine?" He asked, wrapping an arm around her. She huddled against his side, shaking her head. "You don't have to be nervous, baby. She's nice. I promise. And if you don't like talking to her, we can go get some lunch and go home. I promise." She looked up at him then, lips pressed together, then nodded. He kissed her forehead, smiling. "You're my brave girl, you know that?" He pushed some of her hair behind her ear. "But it's okay to be scared. I know this isn't something we've done before. I won't leave you though. Not unless you want me to."

He never lied to her. So she sat. And waited. And when the woman called her dad's name, she hopes up beside him, following along like a puppy. It struck her for a second that she would follow her dad anywhere.

The thought would strike her again, years later, as she would hold tight to the outside of a spaceship, wondering if she'd ever make it back to earth, but knowing that being with her father was more important.

She followed her dad into the back where a tall woman with dark skin and a kind smile waited, holding out a hand. "Mr. Stark. It's very nice to meet you."

"And you as well, Dr. Hudson. You can just call me Tony."

"And you must be Penelope." She held out a hand to Penny who took it, manners overriding shyness.

"It's nice to meet you."

"Why don't you both follow me." She suggested, leading them into a room the color of the sky in the morning, all bright blue with clouds on the ceiling, and a long sofa against one wall. In front of the sofa was a coffee table with paper and crayons for little kids. Her dad sat down on the sofa and she sat beside him, the doctor taking a seat across from them in a rolling chair.

"So, Penelope. Would you prefer to be called Penelope or Penny?" Surprised that the woman was already only talking to her, she fought the urge to look over at her dad. She could talk to the doctor by herself.

"Penny."

"Alright, Penny. My name is Amanda. Do you know what I do?"

"You're a therapist."

"That's right." The woman spoke softly, calmly, and it reminded her of her dad. She started to relax a little, breathing a little easier. "A therapist is just someone you can talk to. About whatever you want. Sometimes people like to talk about the things that make them sad or the things that worry them. And sometimes they can give people medicine to help them feel better." Penny nodded to show that she understood. "So. Let me tell you a little about myself. I live here in New York, but I loved from San Francisco a few years ago. I am married, and I have a dog. I like to watch movies and go jogging in the park." She paused. "What about you?"

"Um...we live in New York. I'm in 6th grade...and...I like to build LEGOs with my friend and help my dad in his lab."

"That sounds like fun. What do you do in the lab?"

"I watch him builds things like his suits."

"That sounds very interesting. Have you always lived with your dad?"

It was a common question, one she'd answered offhandedly a thousand times. But this time, she felt her heart rate speed up. So she just shook her head. "When did you move in with your dad?"

"When I was six." She whispered. Almost six whole years ago...practically her whole life it felt like. But there had been a life before him. A life with her mom, who she barely remembered anymore.

The therapist didn't dwell on that. Instead, she went back to school and Ned. LEGOs. Whether or not Penny got along with the Avengers. If she had fun with them. And since her dad was there, Penny had no trouble talking.

The sessions continued every week for a while, and then, after a month, her dad suggested he wait in the waiting room. "You can call if you need me. I promise." He told her softly, sitting beside her in the room.

"Okay." She told him with a shrug, not too worried. She was eleven now...she could be away from her dad to talk to a doctor, especially since she knew this doctor. So when the time came, she followed the woman into the room and sat down, well aware of her father's absence but coping fine.

"So, your dad mentioned that you had a nanny when you first came to live with him." Amanda started, sitting back in her chair. Penny was curled up on the sofa against a pillow, comfortable and cozy. But she didn't like thinking about that woman...the one who'd been there when she'd first arrived.

"Yeah."

"Do you know how long she worked for your father?" Penny shook her head. It had seemed like that woman had been in charge of her for weeks, but she wasn't sure how accurate that was. She'd been little and every day had lasted forever. "Did you like her?" Penny shook her head again. "What was she like?"

"She...she wanted me to be quiet and out of the way."

"I see. That must have been difficult. You were little...and you were probably used to having more attention." Penny shrugged. She didn't want to talk about the old nanny or her first few days or weeks with her father.

The subject of her room came up a few weeks later. Penny hadn't told anyone that she was in therapy...not Ned or any of the Avengers. Mostly the questions were nice and easy and Penny was happy to talk to her. It was almost fun to talk to a grownup that talked to her like she was a grownup too. So when Amanda asked about her room one day, she didn't see any harm in telling her that she made sure her room was neat.

"Why is that so important to you?" Penny frowned, not sure what kind of question that was. Ned's mom always got mad when his room was dirty.

"I don't want to make dad mad." Amanda furrowed her brows.

"Does he get angry with you when your room isn't clean?" Penny shook her head.

"No...I mean...it's always clean."

"What if it weren't?"

"It...it always is. I make sure my room stays clean."

"Why is that so important?"

"It just is." Penny snapped, glaring down at her lap, eyes suddenly hot.

The admission came not too much later. "I'm afraid of making him mad." The therapist nodded.

"It must be very difficult to worry so much about making your father mad. What happens when he gets mad?"

Penny sniffed, hating herself for crying. She was eleven. There was nothing to cry about! "He doesn't get mad at me. Not really."

"Okay. That's good. What do you think would happen if he got mad?" She shrugged. "Let me ask a different question. What are you afraid would happen if he got mad?"

"I'm…". Penny swallowed hard, her voice a whisper. "I'm afraid he won't want me anymore."

There was a short silence. Then Amanda leaned in. "Have you ever been angry with your father? When he wouldn't let you do something?" She shrugged.

"Kind of."

"When you were angry, did you ever think that you didn't want him to be your dad anymore?" Her eyes shot open, head snapping up.

"No!"

"Why not?"

"Because...he's my dad! I love him!" She thought about time spent with her dad...of working in his lab and watching movies and dancing in the kitchen. She remembered waking up in a hospital room with him at her side when she'd fallen and hit her dead. She remembered the first time he hugged her and the first time he swung her up in his arms and put her on his shoulders.

Years later on a dead planet so far away, she would remember these same things as her body turned to dust, her eyes locked on his, tears running down both of their cheeks.

"Penny, do you think your dad feels the same about you?"

And with a tear finally escaping, she nodded, staring at her lap, hands clasped in her lap. Of course, he loved her.

Her dad came into the room then, sitting on the sofa beside her and gathering her into his arms. "I love you, Daddy." She whispered, arms clasping his neck. He held her just as tight.

"I love you so much, baby. You're the best thing I ever did."

And years later, as his daughter disintegrated in his arms, those same words would get caught in his throat, and she would drift away without hearing them.

But she would still know them.


	13. Time-Travel

**A prompt from Tumblr: Penny accidentally use the time stone and travels back in time. And then she sees Tony when he was really young...**

**I adored this prompt, even though I probably didn't really get to do it justice. I was in a hurry and things were busy today...but I hope you still like it!!**

**(This is not how the time stone works...I'm sorry. We're making things up for plot :))**

****

**Day 20: Time Travel**

"What's this?"

"Something you should not touch." Penny grinned over at Doctor Strange who hadn't looked up from his book, but a corner of his mouth was lifted ever so slightly.

"You don't even know what I'm looking at!"

"And yet, I am certain that you should not touch it." She giggled, stepping away from the table and petting the cloak that had wrapped itself around her.

"Fine," Penny grumbled, and the cloak jumped off her shoulders, going back to Doctor Strange's arms, the collar stroking his face like a dog licking its owner. Doctor Strange had agreed to let her hang out at the sanctum that afternoon since Mr. Stark was off on a business trip and it was supposed to be her week to work in his lab with him. But Doctor Strange had been working the whole time and she wanted to explore.

So she explored, slipping out of the room and wandering around the hallway full of glass cases that apparently housed artifacts or magical somethings...Mr. Stark didn't believe in magic but she thought it was pretty cool. He'd saved them, after all...and he'd used magic. Well...the infinity stones or whatever. She hadn't paid all that much attention, considering she'd been..well...dead. Then not dead.

Fingers trailing over one of the glass cases, she hesitated when she saw a book at the end of the room, a familiar green rock on a table in some kind of holder. Moving closer, she glanced back at the doorway that led to where Doctor Strange was working and then, deciding she would just try to get a better look. It would be fine. She wasn't going to touch it.

Penny crouched in front of the table, eyes raking over the unfamiliar words in the book which seemed to be written in arabic or something. She reached out a hand starting to turn a page when her arm brushed against the necklace...and something strange washed over her, eyes closing, hands coming up on instinct to press against her ears at the sudden roaring.

And then it was raining.

Penny gasped, stumbling forward and grabbing at the wall to catch herself, sticky fingers gripping the bricks. It was raining and she was outside and she was dizzy and...and outside. And not in the sanctum. "Doctor Strange?" She asked, praying that this was some kind of weird side effect or something.

Why had she touched the glowy green rock?

Maybe it was a mirage. Or...or a hallucination? He had given her tea, right? Maybe it was weird tea. Maybe it was...bad tea? Or something? Because there was no way she was suddenly...outside. In an alley. With water drizzling from the sky. "Doctor Strange?" She tried again, taking a hesitant step forward. The concrete under her feet was real. And she was wet from the rain, especially since she was only wearing a pair of flats, jeans, and a t-shirt. "Um...Doctor? Please?" She called, watching as a man walked by on the street, not even glancing at her. She could vaguely hear the pounding bass of distant music, but she didn't see anyone around apart from the guy hurrying past.

She stepped forward, taking a deep breath and trying to shove down the panic. Moving toward the street, she glanced around again, already shivering in the rain despite the warm air. Hugging the wall, she started to step out onto the sidewalk, but that was the exact moment that someone turned the corner, a heavy body colliding with hers. Surprised, she let herself stumble back a little, barely managing to catch the obviously drunk man before he face-planted, his laughter loud enough to make her cringe.

"Fuck. Sorry." The drunkenly tried to right himself, grabbing at the wall, and she watched with a sinking heart as he slumped against it. She knew that voice. Not that she'd ever heard it say that, exactly. But she knew this man...the one grasping desperately at the wall, barely managing to keep himself upright. She knew him really well. But not like this.

Tony Stark was still laughing, glancing over at her and struggling to stay on his feet. "Um...sir?" She asked, feeling weird about the address considering he looked about two years older than her. Maybe. He wore a suit jacket over a white t-shirt and pants that didn't match, and on his head was a tall, green top-hat that looked like it was made of plastic. Around his neck was a string of plastic green beads that looked like it might be in danger of being covered in vomit at any moment.

The man glanced up at her, still grinning despite the apparent dizziness. But he seemed to get a good look at her all of a sudden, and his demeanor changed, drunken amusement replaced with something like shame. "Hey there, kid. I'm...fuck...I mean...shit...sorry. Uh...you alright?" There were in an alley in the middle of nowhere and it was raining and she was so afraid...so, so afraid. This was Mr. Stark. Tony Stark. Definitely. But...younger. A lot younger.

"Mr. Stark?" She asked, shivering in the rain. He wiped a hand over his face, blinking at her a few times.

"Fuck, don't call me that." He whispered, shaking his head. "But, uh...yeah, that's me. Just call me Tony. But, anyway...are you, uh...you okay, kid?"

"I...where are we?" She whispered, biting down on her lip. He blinked a few more times, shaking his head and apparently trying to sober himself up by sheer force of will. "I'm sorry...I don't know where I am."

"Uh...San Diego. Or, we'll...somewhere close." He informed her, leaning on the wall and closing his eyes. The smell of booze was overwhelming and she wondered how he was even standing. But he seemed to be trying to gather himself.

"What...um...what year is it?"

That, at least, seemed to sober him up. "Kid? You hit your head or something? You need help?" He asked, standing upright a little more.

She shook her head but didn't respond. "It's 1994."

1994\. It was 1994. How...time travel. It must have been something she'd touched at the sanctum. She was in the past. Somehow. And she was somehow in the same place as Mr. Stark in 1994. Which meant he was in his twenties, right? He'd just lost his parents a few years ago...and he was drunk. Really drunk. Of course, Penny knew that Mr. Stark used to drink a lot. But she'd never seen him drink before...never more than maybe one glass of wine or whatever that light brown stuff was at social events. Usually, he stuck to smoothies and once, she'd watching him drink coffee with motor oil in it, but that had been an accident and he'd spit it out on the floor, yelling at poor Dum-E The whole time.

She must have taken too long to respond because he spoke again, words slurred but genuine. "Kid? Do you need help? Hold old are you?"

"Sixteen." She whispered, then swallowed hard. He wasn't Iron Man yet...but he was still a genius. If anyone could figure out how to get her back home, it was him. Could she trust him? Would he help some random kid? She didn't doubt it. But...if she told him about time travel now...would that change things? She couldn't risk it either way, so she shook her head. "I'm fine. I just...I got lost and now...I need to get home."

Who could she go to? Could Penny get herself to the sanctum? Surely that was there. Doctor Strange probably wasn't, but someone else would be. "Where's home?" He asked, glancing back at the mouth of the alley. Behind them was all darkness, rain drizzling from the sky, and she felt a shiver go up her spine. There was a dumpster, but beyond that, she couldn't see anything.

"New York." She answered when he looked worried again.

"Damn, kid. How'd you get all the way out here?" She shook her head. That didn't matter...she couldn't risk changing anything.

"I'm fine." Penny assured him, even though that didn't answer his question.

"Okay. Do you need a ride somewhere? I...I have a driver."

She started to shake her head when the voice came from behind them, a soft 'click' catching both of their attention. "Well, well, well. If it isn't Tony Stark." The two of them turned toward the street where a guy with a gun approached, a grin twisting his lips. "And one of his conquests?" Penny flinched at that but didn't answer. Mr. Stark barely moved from where he'd been propped up against the wall, sounding exhausted.

"Look, asshole, I don't have any money…"

"Yeah, right. You're Tony Stark. What about you, sweetie?" The gun moved to point at her and she glared. "You got a name?"

"Get the fuck away from her! She's just a kid!"

"Hooking up with kids in alleyways, Stark? That's low, even for…" Before he could get another word out, and while his attention was on Mr. Stark, Penny lunged, grabbing the guy's wrist, forcing the gun up to the sky, then brought down another hand halfway between his wrist and elbow hard enough that there was a crunch and a scream. He started to say something else, but she brought a knee up, shoving it into his stomach, then brought her hand up, punching him in the temple and watching him drop like a sack of bricks.

Penny was exhausted. She was in the wrong state. She was in the wrong year! She did not have time for muggers right now.

"Holy shit, kid." Mr. Stark whispered with a reverence that made her smile a little. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm a superhero." She told him, crossing her arms and looking around to make sure the guy didn't have any friends, shoving the fear and panic down. She was a superhero. She was going to get home. Him, on the other hand...well, he still looked pretty rough. "Are you going to be okay?"

He waved a lazy hand, seeming less tipsy than before, even though he still had that goofy smile on his face that made her heart ache for him. "I'm fine. My driver's on his way." She started to ask him where he'd been...why he'd been wandering around when Happy (presumably Happy…) was on his way to pick him up, but she decided that she'd better not. "Seriously, I can give you a ride. Do you need money for a plane ticket?" She wrapped her arms around herself, shivering and starting to ask if maybe she could take him up on that, since she had no idea how else to get to New York, when he shrugged his suit jacket off, revealing a plain white t-shirt, and wrapped it around her shoulders clumsily.

"Come on, kid. Let me help you get home. You shouldn't be wandering around like this in by yourself in the middle of the night...uh...morning." He checked his watch.

"What time is it?"

"Almost four in the morning."

She started to nod...started to ask if he could help her out even at the risk of messing up the timeline, when a figure appeared behind him and she jumped. "Penny!"

Mr. Stark spun, an arm thrown out, the effect only slightly ruined by the fact that the motion had thrown him off balance and he had to grab the wall again. "What the hell? Two muggers in one night."

The man stepped forward, and Penny released a breath when she saw Doctor Strange, arms crossed as he glared at her. "Penny. I thought I told you not to touch anything." He snapped.

"I'm really sorry." She whispered.

"Yes. Well, you have Stark terrified, and your aunt has been screaming at me on the phone. So why don't we return you to your timeline? Hm? Before we do even more damage than we may have already done." She nodded, meek as she shrugged Mr. Stark's jacket off and handing it back to him. He took it, staring between her and Doctor Strange.

"What the hell? Kid...do you know this guy?"

"Yeah. He's um...he's….my...uncle." She told him, making up the lie on the spot. "He's going to take me home. Thank you for your jacket, Mr. Stark...uh...Tony. Sir." He blinked, shaking his head and glancing between the two of them.

Doctor Strange held out a hand that she took, taking a step away from Mr. Stark, then glanced back to him. She would never have the courage to say this to the real Mr. Stark...well...her Mr. Stark. But before she went with Doctor Strange, she wanted to say this. "Mr, um...Tony, sir? I'm...I'm really sorry about your parents. I just..my parents died when I was little so I know it's not the same but...but you still have people that love you." She didn't wait for him to respond. She had no hope that he'd even remember any of this considering the smell of alcohol wafting off of him. Instead, she grabbed Doctor Strange's hand and felt the strange magic wash over her again.

Surprisingly, Doctor Strange didn't kick her out of the sanctum. He did, however, restrict her to the kitchen and insist on keeping an eye on her for the rest of the day, and she had to listen to him reassure both May and Mr. Stark on the phone that she was okay.

When she got up the courage to ask why she had ended up in that time, and why the time stone had sent her back without her using any spells or weird hand gestures or anything, he'd given her a strange look, tapping his fingers on the counter. "The time stone is...intuitive. Sometimes it does things that it sees fit." And that had been the only explanation she'd gotten. 

But then Mr. Stark arrived to pick her up, apparently back from his business trip a day early. Because of her. He stepped into the sanctum kitchen, a strange look on his face, and it occurred to her that maybe...just maybe...he remembered. "Mr. Stark...I...I thought you had a business trip." He gave her a dry smile.

"I did."

"I didn't mean to…" She started, but he cut her off with a soft smile.

"I know, kid. I'm...I'm sorry you had to see that." 

"No! I mean...I know you were...you'd just lost your parents and...you...I'm sorry you were so sad." He looked at her for a long time, lips pressed together, eyes wide. "And...I'm sorry...I'm sorry that I somehow accidentally might have messed up the timeline and I'm sorry that I called you Tony but…" He stepped forward then, wrapping his arms around her, resting his chin on her head. His shoulders shook a little as he chuckled and she gripped him tight, ear pressed to his chest as she listened to his heartbeat.

"You know I'm pretty sure I told you that you could call me Tony...at least once." She shrugged and he pulled away, putting his hands on her shoulders. He remembered. She could see it in his eyes. "You're a good kid, you know that, right? The absolute best kid." She smiled a little, ducking when he ruffled her hair. "Come on, kid. Let's go get back to the tower...no dangerous infinity stones there."

"What about Vision?" He snorted, wrapping his arm tightly around her and leading her out of the sanctum. 

She wasn't sure she'd ever be invited back, but as long as she got to keep her lab weekends with Mr. Stark, that was just fine with her.


	14. Insomnia

**Prompt from Tumblr: Tony is worried about Penny not sleeping.**

**This one is VERY short because...well because I worked 2 jobs today and am exhausted.**

**Day 21: Insomnia**

Tony Stark stepped out of the elevator, yawning a little as he glanced at his watch and wondering when he'd gotten old. Penny would say years ago, and he smirked a little at the thought. He liked having the girl around, especially in these last few weeks considering he had been meeting with the rogue Avengers and he'd been too busy to really spend much time with her. So he stepped into his lab, wiping a tired hand over his face...he'd been awake since three in the morning.

He found Penny sitting in her normal spot in the lab, staring down at her webshooters. When he got closer, he frowned. The girl had dark circles under her dark circles and Tony stared as she squinted through the safety goggles, doing her best to connect two wires with shaking hands. Her suit lay discarded on the table, and he could see that she had a dark bruise all along one arm, most likely from patrolling. She often stumbled into the tower after a day of school and a night of fighting and he would worry over her, but she never made a big deal of any of it, waving him off and promising that she would be fine in a few hours.

And she usually was.

So he didn't worry too much about the bruise, instead worrying about the pale, drawn look on her face. The dark circles under her eyes. Her shaking hands. The way she looked like she was roughly five seconds from falling over.

"Uh...kid?" She didn't look up. Frowning, he glanced over at Dum-E who was moving his arm worriedly. "Me too, buddy." The girl had been burning the candle at both ends according to her aunt and, while Tony didn't make it a habit to get involved in the personal business of his interns/Spider children, he felt like this might be a problem. "Pen." He prompted again, but she didn't seem to hear.

According to Friday, she'd crawled in through a window about an hour ago while he'd been in a meeting with Pepper and Rhodey. He'd waved off the notification, sure that the kid would be fine. She'd been doing her spider thing but Friday hadn't said anything about him being injured so he hadn't worried. When he'd finally gotten out of the meeting, he'd asked where she was, and had been informed that the girl had wandered down into his lab. So he'd headed down to find her and ask if she wanted to watch a movie or something, considering it was almost ten and she had been at school all day, then patrolling. So he figured she might want to relax for a while.

Approaching, he placed a slow, hesitant hand on her shoulder, and the girl practically jumped out of her skin, dropping the webshooters and spinning in her chair, nearly falling. He put his hands up, taking a step back, snorting a little. "Take it easy, kid." He said with a chuckle, slowly dropping his hands. "You alright?"

"Yeah...yeah, of course. I'm...uh...I'm just fixing my webshooters and...and I think one's broken but I can't remember and I don't...I'm not sure." She trailed off, blinking heavily. "Um...right. So...I need to fix this." He nodded, eyes narrowing once more.

"I was wondering if you wanted to come upstairs. Watch a movie."

"Oh...I really need to fix this...they...they're broken. I think."

"Yeah. Got it. When was the last time you slept, kid?"

"Oh, slept. Right." She widened her eyes, then blinked a few more times. "Um...what day is it?" He lifted an unimpressed eyebrow.

"Saturday." He told her flatly.

"Oh. Then, uh...Thursday...I think? But it's fine. I'm fine. I just need to...finish this. I need to finish this and homework. I have...like...so much homework." She shook her head, laughing a little. "AP Bio and AP Chem...and English...I have to read Of Mice and Men...or...maybe it's Grapes of Wrath. It's definitely Steinback. Anyway, I need to write a paper too and…" She started to list to the side, leaning against the table, and he reached out, gripping her shoulder.

"Okay, yeah. New plan." He cut her off, leading her over to the elevator. She didn't protest, just stared up at him in confusion. "You're going to bed."

"No! No, Mr. Stark, I can't go to bed! I have so much homework and…"

"Bed." He said again, punching one of the elevator buttons.

"Mr. Stark, I have to patrol tomorrow and I have to fix my webshooters and…"

They stepped out of the elevator and into the living room of his floor, his arm around her shoulders. "Bed."

"But if I don't finish my homework then I won't be able to…"

He opened her bedroom door, leading her into the room and pushing her toward the bed. "Bed."

"You stay up late all the time. You can't tell me…"

"You." He pointed a finger at her, then at the bed. "Bed. Go."

"But…" He lifted an eyebrow, well aware that he had was Rhodey called his 'dad face' on, but not caring. She looked like she might pass out at any second...finally, she stumbled over to the bed, sitting down and crossing her arms, looking more like a petulant toddler than anything. He had to chuckle, then moved to sit beside her.

"Are you okay, kid?"

"Yeah. I just...I have a lot of homework."

"I got that. You never have this much trouble. What's going on?"

"I'm just...I have to go on patrol and homework, and I had decathlon after school and I had to study for my midterms…" She trailed off, staring down at her lap, eyes getting wet. "I'm sorry. I...I just...sometimes I feel like I can't do all of it and…" She sniffed, and he tightened the arm he had around her.

"Pen, you can't do it all." He told her softly. "It's too much. You're just a kid."

"I'm Spidergirl." She whispered.

"Yeah. You're also fifteen. You need to sleep. Every night. Out of every habit of mine I don't want you to pick up, this is number one." She shrugged instead of answering, staring down at her lap. "Look, I know it's a lot. You've got patrols and school and your friends and the internship. And I know it must be hard to hard to balance all that. So...how about, tonight, you sleep. And tomorrow morning, when you wake up, we can talk about it. Maybe figure out a better system."

She yawned, leaning against his side, head dropping onto his shoulder. "Do we have to tell May?"

He chuckled a little, rubbing a hand up and down her arm. "Maybe. Go to bed and we'll discuss it in the morning."

"Mkay." She muttered, starting to turn and fall onto the bed. He pulled the covers back, helping her get situated, then pulled them back up to her shoulders.

"Alright, kiddo. Get some sleep." He murmured, running a hand through her hair.

"Thanks, Mssr. S'rk…love you." She muttered. He froze at her side, hand shaking just a little before it landed on her shoulder, patting her arm gently.

He loved her too. He'd never said it. Not to anyone. But of course, he loved her...she was his kid.

"I love you too, kid." He whispered, leaning down and pressing his lips to her hair. "Fri, lights. Soundproof the room. I'll see you in the morning, Pen."

He was unsurprised to find that she was already asleep. Smiling softly, he closed the door behind him, leaning against it for a moment. "Fri, you get that on film?"

"Yes boss."

"Save it to the archive, please."

"Already done, boss."


	15. Blood Lust

**Thank you so much to all of my readers, and everyone who left a review! I'm sorry that this one is late, and I don't love it, but I tried! Here is day 24. I hope you enjoy.**

**Day 24: Blood lust**

Penny had been missing for a week and a half.

Tony knew that because the 11 nights ago, he had received a call from May Parker who had, somehow, gotten Happy's number. He had to assume that she'd gotten it from Penny's phone. Happy had put her through to him at 3 am, and he'd picked up with a groan, but had immediately been shocked awake when May Parker, the woman he'd met once while recruiting the Spidergirl kid to help him out in Germany. And sure, he liked the kid just fine and she was eager to be an Avenger, but she was a bit young. So he was going to let her stick to the ground. Be a kid. Do her whole vigilante thing helping the little guy.

Then he'd answered his phone at 3 am to the voice of May Parker. "Mr. Stark? I'm so sorry to bother you but is there any chance that Penny is still there?"

The woman had been crying. Scared.

Still there, he'd wondered. The kid had never even been to the compound.

But then he'd remembered. The fake internship. She must have used that excuse to patrol. "No...no she isn't here." He'd told the woman, already grabbing his tablet and bringing up the last footage from her suit. Swinging around the city. Walking across a rooftop. A blurry, dark figure with a mask pointing something at her...a weapon. Some kind of alien tech. A visible blue wave had come from the weapons, and then everything had gone dark.

He'd begun the search then, and hadn't stopped, lying to May about the internship...hell, lying to the police about the internship. He didn't know what else to do! He couldn't exactly out her...but someone had taken her, and that wasn't easy. She was Spidergirl! She was stronger than Captain America. Fast. Smart. And she could stick to things! So that weapon had taken out her suit...maybe knocked her out too. Did that mean they'd been able to drug her?

It was a week and a half before he found any leads, and it wasn't even so much of a lead as a taunt. "If you want your pet spider back, give us…" Tony had stopped listening and had FRIDAY trace the signal. They'd kidnapped a child to get money out of him? Fury boiled under his skin as he rested his hands on the table in his lab, Rhodey leaning against the wall a few feet away. He hadn't told May about the call..he would need to come up with a story after he found her. Then he'd need to upgrade her suit.

The message had come from a phone that took FRIDAY almost four hours to trace...four hours during which Tony paced, and slammed his hands against tables, knocked things off of walls. The only reason that the kid wouldn't have gotten away was that they had drugged her. Or killed her. Nothing short of Vibranium was strong enough to hold her. He knew. She'd held up a loading bridge without much difficulty.

He stared at her picture on one of the TV screens where the news played without sound. The girl had her long hair pulled back and she smiled her sweet, dorky smile, eyes crinkled. It was her freshman yearbook photo...the same one that had popped up when he'd found out her identity. The news anchor looked just concerned enough as she went on about the poor missing girl and the desperate search for her backed by her boss, Tony Stark.

It switched to a screen on him talking, an older interview from the day after she'd gone missing, but he didn't turn it up. He already knew what he'd said.

"I'm here to ask for the public's help. Penny Parker was my intern. She has been working for my company for months, and we are all desperate to find her. If you have any leads, please contact the anonymous tip line."

It had been a statement prepared by Peper.

The official timeline was this: Penny had left school but had not shown up for her internship. Assuming that the girl had made other plans or forgotten, he had called her and got no response.

"So she could have been missing since right after school." May had whispered, her head in her hands, and Tony had apologized, heart twisting for the woman who had sat beside Pepper, an untouched bottle of water in front of her on the conference table.

"Mr. Stark, why didn't you contact her aunt?"

"It's not company policy to contact the families of interns if they do not show up for work. We have several employees...we simply don't have the time." Pepper had told the police officer because Tony could put together any kind of real answer. Why hadn't he contacted her?

Because the girl had been doing her spider thing and he hadn't wanted to involve himself overmuch in her life. Hadn't wanted to ruin her. Because the internship wasn't real. Because some days he feared that he'd just used the girl and dropped her with a fancy new suit and some days he hated himself for it.

Then the call had come, and in his single-minded fury, all he knew was that he would get that kid home to her aunt and he would make sure she was safe. And maybe, if the kid wanted to, he'd give her some kind of real internship.

He and Rhodey had taken turns flying around the city, trying to get some kind of readings from her suit without any luck. On day 4 he'd called Steve, asking if the man had seen the news.

"Yes...your intern?" The man had asked without preamble. "We'll keep an eye out. Do our own searches."

Tony hadn't told them that she was actually a vigilante. It wasn't his secret. Instead, he'd practically hung up on the man and had gone back to pacing. And slamming his hands on things and watching and rewatching the baby monitor footage.

He'd watched her swing around the city, narrowly missing buildings and street lamps but always spinning and twisting away in time. He'd watched her climb to the top of tall buildings when she was bored and jump off, waiting almost too long to shoot a web and catch herself at the last second.

He'd watched her stop a car thief that was just trying to break into his own car. He'd watched her give an old lady directions, and then another. He'd watched her shoot a tightrope between two buildings and do tricks.

He'd watched her give Happy reports. Ask about him...about the both of them.

All leading up to that day. Her landing on a rooftop at 4:29 pm. It had still been light out. A figure had approached but Penny hadn't made a noise...there had been a shrill sound from the weapon and then silence. The suit had been offline ever since.

"Sir, the location has been uploaded to your suit," Friday told him, her voice almost hesitant.

They were in the sky moments later, Happy following on the ground with a car. He hadn't told May, though. Not yet. Not until they found her.

They touched down outside of a warehouse about an hour away, but, Tony was surprised to find that there was only one life form in the building. He had to hope that that life form was Penny. So the two broke through the front doors, hurrying into the building and following Friday's directions to the cell he found in a back room. A cell with a glass wall. A cell with a child inside.

The girl was curled up into a ball in the corner of the cell, arms wrapped around her legs. She shook, obviously cold in just a tank top and shorts, mostly bare skin covered in mottled bruises and healing cuts. "Penny?" He asked, looking around the strangely empty room. There was no one here.

Why? There had been...but why call him, demand money, then leave Penny here alone? And why hadn't she broken out? Was she drugged? She was conscious, rocking back and forth on the floor of an otherwise empty cell. "Kid?" He asked when she didn't respond, flipping his faceplate up and glancing at Rhodey who took a step back, glancing around the empty building. "Kiddo, can you hear me?" Tony put a hand on the handle of the door. It must have been reinforced glass...seriously reinforced. She was too strong for it to be otherwise.

As soon as he turned the handle she looked up, eyes huge, and he was startled by the look on her face. Her hair hung limply around her face, teeth bared like an angry dog, and before he could even react she was at the wall, letting out an inhuman cry as she beat her fists against the glass. He jumped back, leaving the door shut, hands in the air as Rhodey came to stand beside him. "What the hell…". His friend muttered as the tiny girl beat against the wall, screaming without words.

"Fri?" Tony asked.

"Miss Parker's pupils appear to be dilated and her pulse is racing...she appears to be drugged."

"Can I contain her?" He demanded.

"Sir…"

"Is the suit strong enough to hold her."

"I do not know how strong she is," Friday informed him. Of course not. Because he'd never tested it.

"Tones…"

"I'm not leaving her like that." As she beat on the glass, blood appeared in smudges from where her skin broke. Her lips were so dry they bled, eyes red-rimmed and leaking tears.

They'd taken a fourteen-year-old girl and locked her in a cell. Apparently for days. Then they'd drugged her. Called him and demanded money...then left her? For him to find? But why? "Penny! He called, putting his hand against the glass. He didn't seem to see him...not really. She was still screaming...still beating on the glass, eyes wide and wild. "I'm going to get you out now kid, okay?"

He was going to kill the people that had done this to her. Kill them. But first, he was getting her out. Carefully, he opened the handle, then took a step forward into the room, Rhodey closing the door behind him, and the girl turned to him, blood dripping from her fingers, entire body shaking. "Hey, kid." He murmured. She shook her head, whimpering. Then, knowing that this might be his worst idea yet, he started to open the suit.

He didn't get the chance. The girl lunged, fingers grabbing at the metal, making that awful, inhuman scream again as she tried to destroy his suit. "Kid!"

"No!" She screamed the first actual word she'd said. "No...no, no, no!"

"Pen...Penny!" He lifted a careful hand to fend her off, not wanting to risk hurting her. She was managing to dent the metal a little, and he worried that she would get through. So, grabbing her arm, he carefully pulled her back, keeping her a little further away as she screamed. "Pen!" Retracting his face mask, he looked at her. Really looked at her. "Penny."

"No...no, no…" She whimpered, shaking her head. Taking a chance, he let the armor open around him, stepping out of the suit.

"Penny? It's me, kiddo. It's Tony."

"No…"

"I don't know what you're seeing right now, kiddo. But whatever it is, it's not real. I'm right here. It's me. Tony Stark. Rhodey is here too."

"Mr...Mr. Stark?" She whispered, reaching out a bleeding hand and gripping his shirt. He let her.

"Yeah, Underoos...it's me." Maybe not the best nickname at the moment considering she was basically in her underwear. Pulling off his sweatshirt, he handed it over, and she stared at it. "You're cold, kid. Put it on."

Her eyes darted around the room, focusing on everything and nothing. Whatever they'd given her, it was bad. "Kid...hey. Focus up, Penny." Her eyes darted back to him, body coiled tight like a cat ready to pounce. "Here." Moving slowly, he took the sweatshirt back, then placed it over her head, gently maneuvering her arms into the sleeves. Once it was on, it rested beneath her knees, and it made her look like a toddler in a grown-up t-shirt.

She watched him, anxious and confused. "Peny? You with me?"

"I...I can't…"

"Alright." He muttered, moving forward and placing his hands on her shoulders. "Kid. We're going to get you back to the compound, alright?"

"You're not here." She whispered, taking a step back, eyes colder than he'd ever seen them.

"They drugged you kid. I am here."

"No...no, he wouldn't come."

That...hurt. His stomach clenched and he fought the urge to glance over at Rhodey who had, more than once, suggested that Tony reach out to the girl. But this...she had thought that he wouldn't come. "Of course I would." He murmured, reaching out again, palm up. She stared at his hand. "Penny...kid...of course, I came for you. I've been looking for you."

"You're not real." She whispered again, shaking her head, a tear spilling over and dripping down her cheek. "You're not…"

"Yes, I am." He spoke firmly, finally reaching out and taking her hand, pulling her a little closer. She allowed it, letting him tug her forward. "I'm right here."

"Mr. Stark?"

"Yeah, kid. It's me. We need to get you back to the compound...okay?"

"They said...said you wouldn't come…"

"I'm right here, Pen." He promised, but she just stared at him.

"They wanted...wanted me to kill you...not you...someone…I wouldn't but…"

"Okay, kiddo. It's okay. No one is going to kill anyone." So that wasn't strictly true. He was definitely going to kill whoever had done this to her. But she didn't need to know that. Stepping forward, he put his hands on her shoulders.

"I don't want to." She gasped out, another tear falling. "It hurts…"

"It's okay, Pen. Come on. Let me get you back home, okay?" She put a hand on her head, sniffing as she stumbled forward. He caught her easily, telling himself it wasn't a hug. Then she wrapped her arms around him, hiding her face in his chest, and he had to admit that maybe, just maybe, this was a hug.

Maybe they weren't there yet. But...for her, he supposed, he could make an exception.

"It's okay, kiddo. I'm right here. I've got you." He promised, letting his head drop, nose in her hair as she sobbed. "I've got you."


	16. Shot

**Day 26: Shot**

"Alright. Everybody good on the plan?" Captain America asked as Penny inched her way around the back side of the building. There were very few soldiers guarding the outside, so they were going for a stealth approach.

"Yeah, yeah, Spangles. Go in and blow shit up." Mr. Stark asked, and on the comm, she heard Clint snort. On the ground, creeping around the back of the building, Penny saw Natasha smile just a little, and Steve sighed.

"Tony…"

"Just kidding, Capsicle. We're all good on the plan. Right, kid?"

"Yep," Penny promised, keeping her voice low. Behind her, she felt the air from Sam's wings as he flew close, landing on top of the building and staring down at her.

"That is so creepy." He told her, but she could see him grinning.

She adjusted her path and began to crawl toward him. "The itsy bitsy spider…". She started to sing, and he gave a shuddering laugh. Swinging herself up onto the ledge beside him, she crouched on the roof, shooting down a web to Natasha who grabbed it, using it as a rope to pull herself up. They were taking the top floors while the others were going in on the ground, or through windows. They would all meet up as soon as the HYDRA base was taken down, and all their soldiers webbed up or incapacitated.

Mr. Stark had advocated for her...had convinced Cap that she could do this, and she wasn't going to let him down. So she'd followed orders to a T so far and had caught the quiet bit of pride in Mr. Stark's voice when he'd sent her off with the others. He believed in her.

Sam opened the hatch on the roof, gesturing for Penny to crawl in first as, on the ground, Clint and Wanda took out the people guarding the place. She stuck to the ceiling, senses telling her that they were safe. Natasha dropped silently down to the ground next, followed by Sam. Both carried guns, which Penny tried not to think about.

Guns were kind of a touchy subject for her, but she wasn't going to let them know that. They still didn't know much about her other than her first name, although Natasha had probably dug up everything on her by that point. It was something she didn't devote a lot of time thinking about. Her senior year of high school was just beginning...she'd be eighteen that year. She was going to Europe in a few months for the first time! But first, she would prove herself to the Avengers.

Crawling along the top of the ceiling, she stayed above Natasha and Sam, then paused when they reached a door. "Left. Four people." She murmured, and Natasha kicked the door in, Penny swinging in and webbing up one guy before he could even look up. Another was taken out by Natasha's taxer thing, hitting the ground hard, unconscious before he even realized what was happening, and then the other two were charging.

Sam took them out with two bullets from the guns in his hand. Clean shots. Penny flinched and tried not to look. Tried not to care. They were bad people, after all. Not like her uncle. They were Nazis! They'd chosen this.

They left the room, aware that now, the others would be on alert. "Alright. We've got at least fifty hostiles. Do we have any apprehended yet?"

"Spidey webbed one up," Natasha told Steve.

"Good job, kid. Try to web up as many as you can. The rest of you, lethal force is advised.

Penny followed orders. She jumped from wall to wall as HYDRA agents came out of rooms, obviously aware that they'd been infiltrated, but it was too late. Like termites, the Avengers had placed themselves throughout the building and would take it down from the inside.

Penny watched a lot of people get shot. Watched a few die while doing her best not to. She webbed up as many as she could, adhering them to walls and hanging them from ceilings, making sure to web their mouths too. One got a concussion, she was pretty sure. She broke another's arm when he grabbed for Natasha.

By the time they met up with Clint and Mr. Stark, they'd made it through half of the building. The agents were armed and dangerous, but otherwise, it hadn't been too difficult. They'd apparently had the element of surprise, and so the four of them made almost quick work of anyone in their way.

To Penny, it was almost surreal. The screaming and the gunshots...it didn't seem real. Like the men she webbed up and the fists she dodged...it was all distant and scary, but not quite real. "Alright, Cap. We've got the upper floors almost clear. How are you guys doing?"

"We're almost done. I've contacted SHIELD and they're going to send some people to take these guys in and clean up."

"Good. Alright. So what are we doing for lunch? I know shawarma is…"

The icy cold feeling went up and down Penny's back, and she jerked her head on instinct, stomach clenching when she saw what was happening in almost slow motion. The gun brought up from a man she thought she'd webbed up. Sam, shaking his head and chuckling at Mr. Stark. The gun...the bullet.

She opened her mouth. She took a step...but her voice refused to work. Her instincts failed and her body froze and the gunshot made her ears ache more than any of the others as the bullet hit Sam right in the side.

Immediately, Natasha was at his side, but Penny could only stand there, the volume seeming to increase. Everything was so loud. So, so unbearable loud. And her hands shook as she took a weak step backward. "You're okay. Tony, can you get him out?"

"Yeah. Come on, bird boy. You've had enough." Mr. Stark's voice was gentle as he carefully looped an arm around Sam who had dropped to his knees.

The man swore, gripping Mr. Stark's armor. "Easy, tin can." He grumbled, letting Mr. Stark scoop him into his arms.

"I've got Falcon. Bringing him back to you, Bruce."

"Kid." Natasha grabbed her shoulder, and Penny waited, ready to be yelled at. Reprimanded. Sent home. Instead, the woman crouched a little to look her in the eye. "Don't."

"I…". She shook her head.

"No. Don't." Her tone was firm, but not unkind. "It was a mistake. Now we have to keep moving."

"If I hadn't…"

"Kid, don't do that to yourself." Beside her, Clint had his bow drawn, eyes sharp as he scanned the empty hallway, and Penny could hear shots being fired downstairs. Iron Man's repulsors. Steve's loud commands. "We need to finish this job, and you can't do that if you're focusing on every mistake. Now let's go." A firm hand gripped her shoulder and pushed her forward, urging her toward the stairs at the end of the hall.

They finished the mission. This time, Penny made sure every man she webbed was stuck firmly, preferably unconscious. And no one said a word to her about what she'd done. She kept waiting...kept waiting for one of them to yell at her or tell her she wasn't ever coming on another mission. So she sat in the corner while Bruce looked over Sam and Mr. Stark helped, the two of them holding pressure on the bullet wound and talking softly about stats and blood pressure. Sam was unconscious by then, and Penny wondered how she would ever face him again.

When they arrived back at the compound, she went straight to her room to get out of the suit, then crawled on the side of the building and up to the roof in her pajamas, curling up against the ledge and taking deep breaths...trying not to think of the sounds of gunshots or the smell of blood...the screaming and bodies dropping.

Mr. Stark found her almost an hour later, dropping onto the ground beside her. For a long time, he was silent, not touching her or moving any closer. When he did speak, his voice was soft. "He asked me to get you." She threw him a glance but didn't say anything. "Sam." He clarifies needlessly. "Said you'd probably be beating yourself up. He's fine. All patched up." 

"I froze." She whispered. "I...I froze." She couldn't believe it...couldn't believe that Spidergirl had frozen in the middle of a mission. All because she'd seen a gun! And she'd seen guns before. Plenty of times. On patrol. With the Avengers. And she'd never freaked out before. 

"We all freeze sometimes, kid." She shook her head.

"He got shot because of me...just like...like…". Her voice broke and the arm moved to her shoulders, pulling her close. Dropping her head against his chest she let out a sob. But she couldn't say it.

"Neither of those things were your fault. Not Sam and not your uncle." His voice was fierce. Firm, but not unkind. Just like Natasha. "He's fine and he doesn't blame you. Neither does your uncle."

Penny didn't argue. Didn't have the strength. Instead, she stared straight ahead through her tears, resting her head on Mr. Stark. "Do you ever think you don't want to do this anymore?" She asked, voice weak and cracking. He nodded immediately.

"Every day, kiddo." He squeezed her tightly to his side. "All the time. Every time I put on the suit."

"So what do you do? When you feel like that?" He sighed.

"I remember how much good I'm doing. I remember all the terrible things I did...the people that died because of the weapons I sold and the fact that I didn't care about my company or where those weapons were going. And, lately...I remember something you said." 

She frowned, glancing up at him. "Something I said?"

"If bad things happen, and I have the power to stop them, but don't, then the bad things happen because of me." 

She smiled, resting her head back on his shoulder and stared at the setting sun.


	17. Suicide

**Thank you all so much to everyone who has been reading and reviewing this story. I appreciate it so much. Here is the final prompt of Febuwhump, Suicide. Warning for mentions and thoughts of suicide and a mention of sexual harassment of a minor.**

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Day 28: Suicide

Mr. Stark. Miss Potts. Vision. Sometimes Colonel Rhodes.

Penny Parker.

Those were the people that lived in the compound full time. Of course, there were other employees. Secret agents. The occasional rogue Avenger.

Mr. Stark. Miss Potts. Vision. Sometimes Colonel Rhodes. All safe. All avoidable for the most part, especially the last two who she almost never saw.

This was the list that Penny went through at night before she went to bed and when she woke up in the mornings. When she climbed out of bed and straight into a cold shower to wake herself up, the cold water almost unbearable. When she sat huddled in a towel in the corner of the bathroom for almost an hour until Friday told her it was 7 am and time to eat.

Miss Potts had her breakfast at 7 before going to work, and Penny had asked Friday to set an alert just for her so that she could eat with the woman. Miss Potts, soon to be Mrs. Stark, didn't ask questions. Didn't try to make her talk. Instead, she made croissants and sat out plates of fruit. Yogurt. Granola and cream to go with strawberries.

If there were any other breakfast food that she might want, Penny was sure that they would have it for her. But she never asked. Not for anything. Not from them. So she made her way down the hall to find Miss Potts alone at the table, Mr. Stark still asleep.

She sat across from Miss Potts, the woman's hair sleek and blonde and pulled back, her pencil skirt and blouse and black stilettos all perfect. Meanwhile, Penny's hair was still damp, and she was dressed in the T-shirt and sweatpants she'd slept in. But she couldn't bring herself to care. Thankfully, the woman didn't seem to care either. She never asked Penny anything, apart from whether or not she wanted more orange juice or fruit or bread.

She ate fruit. And bread. And yogurt. She ate without tasting because she had to eat to keep living and she wasn't going to stop living. Not now. Not because of this...no matter how much she wanted to. And she did. She wanted to stop. To give up. Because she didn't know how much more of this she could take.

Mr. Stark. Miss Potts. Vision. Sometimes Colonel Rhodes. The ones she avoided but was somewhat comforted to have nearby.

It had begun with a text message sent to Mr. Stark four months after her Homecoming dance. "Does your offer to join the Avengers still stand?" It had been sent from the roof of her apartment building, backpack between her knees, bruises forming on her wrists that would be healed by the time she got back.

May had been two floors down. But she hadn't been able to think about that...about blood and screaming and the second gunshot that had taken every bit of her and shattered it.

She'd called the police and climbed out of the window. To this day she had no idea how Mr. Stark had gotten her to the compound. She'd heard his whispers with Happy, though, when she'd somehow been in the back of a car, eyes closed as she'd leaned her head against the window. The words she hadn't wanted to hear. Boyfriend. Argument.

When she finished her breakfast she went back to her room without a word, her own rudeness chafing somewhere below the surface. May had taught her better. She should have said thank you or offered to help with the dishes. But May wasn't there anymore so what did that matter?

She hadn't answered any of Ned or MJ's texts. Hadn't gone to the funeral. Mr. Stark had wanted to make her but she'd hidden in her room, asking Friday to lock the door, and then had used the vents, crawling until she'd found the smallest, tightest corner where she'd curled into a ball, face buried into her knees, tears falling until she ran out of tears.

When she'd finally gone back to her room, weak from hunger and barely able to stand after being so cramped for so long, she'd found a plate of sandwiches under cling wrap and had eaten them all, then had gone back to bed. Her phone had been beeping and vibrating almost endlessly, so she'd turned it off without looking.

Mr. Stark had come to talk to her the next day. After early breakfast with Miss Potts. About school. "Do you want to go back?" She'd shaken her head, making it abundantly clear that she didn't want his comfort. Or his touch on her shoulder, arm around her. None of it. Don't touch don't touch don't touch! She screamed these words in her mind every time she saw another person.

"Okay." He'd nodded his head, teeth digging into his lip for a moment. Why? Had he been nervous? "I can email your school...set it up so that you can do your work here. Over email. You have your books?" She'd nodded. And he'd looked at her for along time as if he were looking for something or like he wanted to say something. But he hadn't. He'd just left. And he hadn't come back to her room since.

She didn't blame him.

After breakfast she pretended she was at school, locking her door, pulling out her books, and working until lunch. She did her classes in order. Single minded. All she needed to focus on was her English essay. Her history reading. The worksheets. Papers. Videos to watch and responses to write.

Emails from classmates to ignore.

She stopped for lunch at 11, checking with Friday first to see if the kitchen was empty. Usually it was. Mr. Stark didn't eat until later. So she ate sandwiches she threw together from the fully stocked fridge in her bedroom, door shut.

Then more school work until 3, when she would stare at the wall for an hour or more, trying so hard to make it stop. Wondering if this pain would ever dim. Even a little. Surely she couldn't keep living with pain like this.

She avoided the people that lived in the compound at dinner too. Microwave meals and leftovers filled the freezer and refrigerator and she picked from those. No one bothered her.

Mr. Stark. Miss Potts. Vision. Sometimes Colonel Rhodes. These were the ones she did her best to avoid.

Curled up in a ball in her room after eating dinner, she heard voices in the hall. Distant. But it was quiet enough that she could make out words. "It's been a month and a half, Tony." Pepper sounded upset. Almost afraid.

"I know." He sounded defeated.

"This isn't healthy. When was the last time you ever saw her?"

"Since I asked her about school." He admitted.

"Tony. You have to talk to her. You're...you're her guardian now. She looks up to you."

"I…". He trailed off. "Pep, I don't know how to do this." He sounded like he was admitting something terrible...a dark, sad failure, and tears pooled in her eyes. She was doing this to him. She hadn't wanted to hurt him...she had just needed a place to go. And he'd been so kind to help...so willing to offer her his home.

She was a burden for the people around her. No matter how much she tried to erase herself, to ease their pain as she smothered under her own, there was no helping it. They still cared about her and she was hurting them. But she didn't know how to stop. She couldn't bear the thought of talking to him face to face...didn't see a way through this.

There were no pills in her medicine cabinet. Regular drugs didn't work on her anyway. All the strong stuff was in the medbay. So that was out. The thought startled her...she wasn't thinking about…for just a second, her head cleared. But then she realized how much better off Mr. Stark would be without her haunting his home like a ghost. She wasn't even Spidergirl anymore. What use was she to the Avengers?

All night, that thought circled around her brain. What use was she? Her life was basically over anyway. May was dead...the last family she had was dead. Had been shot. Because of her. She'd basically killed her aunt and uncle. She wasn't a superhero anymore. Couldn't bear to even think about putting on that suit. She was hurting her friends and ignoring the people that had taken her in.

She grabbed a knife from the drawer the next evening when she got her dinner. The only problem was her healing...she healed so fast. But if she cut deep enough in the right spot, she figured that wouldn't be a problem. She didn't dare look up the best way to do it...no way Mr. Stark wouldn't have Friday alert him if she searched something like that.

Jumping off the roof had been another thought. She could easily climb to the top floor of the compound and just...dive. It should be quick. But she didn't know if she was brave enough.

"Penny?" She jumped at Friday's voice as she sat at her desk, knife in hand, wondering if somehow, the AI knew what she was doing. What she was planning. Did the AI watch her? Or just listen. She got changed in her bedroom, so she hoped it was the latter.

"Yeah?" She asked, slipping the knife into her desk drawer.

"Mr. Stark asked me to invite you down to the lab." She stared, frowning, then shook her head.

"Can you tell him no thanks, Friday?"

"Of course."

Then she went back to planning, putting the knife away right before her laptop pinged with an incoming...chat? Message? It said "Tony Stark" on the top and she stared at it for a long time before opening the message.

"Hey, kid." That was it. Just a hi?

She didn't want to answer. Didn't want to hurt him. Didn't want him to invest anything else in her when she was planning to...go away. He didn't deserve that after everything.

But every part of her wanted to answer. So she sat at her desk, fingers hovering for a long time before she typed out an answer. "Hi."

That was all she could manage.

"How's the schoolwork going? Do you need any help?"

"No." She replied, glancing down at the drawer that held the knife. "Thank you though."

Then a long wait, during which she found herself longing for him to write something...for a hand that she could use to pull herself up. Because she did need help. Needed it more than anything.

"Just let me know if you need anything, Pen. I know…". The message sat there for a minute before he was typing once more, little dots appearing at the bottom of the screen. "I remember how much this hurts. Sometimes it still hurts. But it hurts less and it gets easier to breathe."

It was such a strange choice of words...but also a perfect one. Easier to breathe. She felt like breathing was almost impossible these days. And...and she wanted to talk to him. Not face to face. That was too much. She didn't know how to cope with that yet.

But maybe...maybe she could tell him another way.

She brought up a blank word document and began to type.

"It was my fault. He creeped me out but I never told her. I didn't tell anyone that he was always looking at me and saying gross things to me but she seemed happy and now it sounds so stupid I can't believe I was so stupid." She took a long, deep breath, closing her eyes, and typed without opening them. "He had a gun he was trying to". She had to stop, stomach turning. But she made herself keep going "...to hurt me." She couldn't bring herself to type the real word. "But she came in and he shot her when she screamed at him May was screaming...it's my fault. She died because of me…"

Without thinking or letting herself hesitate or even editing her words, she copied the whole thing and pasted it into the empty message box, then hit enter.

Then she was in her bathroom, gripping the toilet and losing the dinner she'd just eaten. Dry heaving, she felt tears start to fall as she struggled to breathe, painful cramps trying to force up everything she'd eaten.

She wanted the knife. Wanted it to stop. But she couldn't stop dry heaving over the toilet...couldn't even lift her head. It seemed to crash down on her, making it impossible to do anything other than heave over the toilet and cry.

And then a hand was on her back. She hadn't even heard anyone come in, and her senses were quiet. Then again, her senses wouldn't have alerted her to anyone that lived in the compound...she trusted them too much. The hand just stayed there for a minute, moving in slow, hesitant circles, then moved to her arm, catching her before she started to let herself fall forward.

As Penny stared straight ahead, a warm cloth wiped her mouth, the sound of flushing filling the room as Mr. Stark sat down beside her on the floor, resting his back against the wall, and she gave in, resting her head on him. It had been so long since she'd been held...since anyone had touched her, and the sensation almost brought more tears to her eyes.

He didn't say anything. Didn't try to reassure her, and she was glad. She ended up closing her eyes and almost falling asleep on him until he all but carried her to bed, tucking her in and running a hand through her hair.

"It hurts, Mr. Stark." She whispered, not opening her eyes.

"I know, kiddo...I know." He sat down on her bed, not moving until after she fell asleep.

The next morning she woke up early, took her shower, and joined Pepper for breakfast. Then she went back to her room and did her work. She ate lunch at 11 and finished her school work. But then she stopped, letting herself glance over at her bedside table where her phone sat. Moving over, she plugged it into the wal, watching it come to life and staring at the screen until it showed the multiple missed messages and notifications.

She wasn't ready to answer any of them yet, but she opened a new one to Ned. He deserved that much, at least.

"I'm sorry. I miss you but I can't talk right now."

At four o'clock, she placed the phone back on the table, ignoring the reply Ned had sent her almost immediately. It had been long and sad and worried. She couldn't reply yet. Soon, maybe. But not yet. Instead, she stepped into the hallway, then into the elevator where she stood for a long time, taking deep breaths and trying to build up her courage. She'd barely spoken to anyone in weeks...but maybe it was time. She'd confessed everything and he'd still come to her. Still held her when she was sick. Still comforted her and sat with her. So she asked Friday to take her down to the lab.

Mr. Stark glanced up from where he was crouched over his suit when she entered his lab, eyes widening, and then he smiled, seeming to droop from relief. "Hey, kiddo. Wanna help?"

She nodded. More than anything, she wanted to help. Wanted to think about Iron Man suit or nanotech or whatever Mr. Stark was working on. The girl sat in her usual spot across from him, listening as he gave her the rundown of what he'd been working on, and the two spent the next four hours they worked in his lab.

That night they ate dinner together for the first time since she'd come to live with them. Pizza he'd ordered in large quantities...pepperoni and sausage and Hawaiian. Cheese. Vegetarian. They would have leftover pizza for a long time. And for the first time since she'd arrived, she ate until she was actually full, tasting all of the food and actually enjoying it. The three of them, Mr. Stark and Miss Potts and Penny Parker together on the sofa, eating pizza and watching a movie. A funny, light comedy that made them all laugh. And she dozed on Miss Pott's shoulder, the woman's arm around her, Mr. Stark sitting on her other side. He carried her to bed that night, and she woke up briefly as he gathered her into his arms, her head propped against his shoulder. "Should we wake her up?" Miss Potts asked, and she felt more than heard Mr. Stark chuckle.

"Nah. She's not heavy. I'll be right back."

When he placed her in her bed, she opened her eyes for a moment, glancing up at Mr. Stark who brushed her hair and tucked her in once more. "Hey, kiddo. Get some sleep, okay?"

"Mr. Stark?"

"Yeah, Pen?"

"Thank you." She wasn't just thanking him for carrying her to bed or for dinner. But he seemed to know that, and he smiled, a soft, gently expression taking over his face.

"Any time, honey."

The next morning Mr. Stark was at the breakfast table when Penny woke up. And he was there almost every morning after.

It was two weeks later that she slipped the knife back into its place in the kitchen drawer. Five weeks later that she admitted to him while the two of them were sitting in his lab that she had taken it in the first place.

They were looking at her suit for the first time. He'd been the one to bring it up, and after hesitating, she'd agreed. It wasn't something she'd really wanted to get back to just yet...the thought of climbing into that suit when she hadn't even been able to save her aunt from a terrible, random act of violence. Still, she'd agreed that they should update her suit...reinstall the parachute and install some updates to Karen. The two of them were staring at the lines of code when Penny blurted out the words, her voice barely a whisper.

"I took a knife from the kitchen." She didn't look at him when she said it. Didn't lift her eyes from the computer screen, but she felt him stiffen. Heard him open his mouth and close it again, teeth clacking together as he took a deep breath. "It was over a month ago...I put it back." Her eyes got hot and she took a deep breath of her own.

"I'm proud of you." He murmured, reaching out and putting a hand on her shoulder, then pulled her closer. She let him, resting her head on his shoulder and snorting a little, the sound sad.

"You shouldn't be. I wasn't even brave enough to go through with it." He shook his head, squeezing her tighter.

"You're the bravest kid I've ever met, Pen. I know how hard it must have been for you to put it back, and I'm so proud."

There was more to say, and they would talk about it more one day, but that day, they just sat together, her head on his shoulder, his chin resting on her hair. After a moment, she felt him press a kiss to the top of her head, and then they went back to her spider suit.

**That's all for Febuwhump. Thank you all so much for reading! I hope you liked the story :)**


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